Re: [Savannah-hackers-public] Prospective Savannah Hacker Evaluation: Task 13585 (Stive)

[Bruno Félix Rezende Ribeiro]

Hello Assaf!

Em Sun, 30 Aug 2015 22:53:35 -0400
Assaf Gordon <address@hidden> escreveu:

> On 08/24/2015 05:01 PM, Bruno Félix Rezende Ribeiro wrote:
> 
> > We strongly encourage that you make the following changes to your
> > project.
> >
> >    * Put the copyright and license notices --- in the form of a
> > source code comments --- in the Stive's script very top, as
> > explained at
> 
> That is correct - but it's not a "strong encouragement" - it is a
> requirement: All files must have clear copyright statement and
> license notice. Stated here:
> http://savannah.gnu.org/register/requirements.php and expanded here:
> http://savannah.gnu.org/maintenance/HowToGetYourProjectApprovedQuickly .

I thought so while doing the evaluation, however I couldn't find any
explicit reference to the requirement in the former page and I didn't
regard the latter as an authoritative reference, but rather as advice
of best practices to submitters.  I think it's better to make such
points explicit right there in the requirements page.


> The following are important and relevant points:
> > [...] You didn't provide the program's dependency list.
> > [...] Include a copy of the GPLv3+ license [...]

I know a copy of a license is a requirement, but it was not clear to
me from my readings of the requirements page, so I classified it as
"strong encouragement" as well.  Although, it's clear that the code
should be licensed under a GPL compatible license, it's not said what
the required proper licensing is comprised of.  In principle one could
release code under GPL without including a copy of the license at all.
IMHO, all requirements should be explicitly listed in the requirements
page.


> The rest of comments, while solid and reasonable, are not requirements
> and thus are not part of the evaluation:
> 
> > * Distribute the program in form of a tarball with a single [...]
> > * In the '--copyright' option text point users to  [...]
> > * Make Stive fail graciously when lynx is not found.  Currently
> > [...]
> > * Implement the GNU standards' command-line interface as in  [...]
> > * Merge the text of '--copyright' option with the one of
> > '--version'  [...]
> > * Make program's output wrap around 80 columns to ease reading.
> > [...]
> > * The package's homepage url: http://sovix.org/software/stive  [...]
> > * Are you sure you have a meaningful use for a version string of
> > [...]
> 
> When I recently joined the savannah team, I was also surprised to
> discover that the quality of the program or its adherence to GNU's
> coding standard are *not relevant at all* for project evaluation of
> 'non-gnu' projects. The only thing that matters for a non-gnu project
> to be hosted on GNU savannah is whether it complies with the hosting
> requirement policies (and similarly, the only thing that matters for
> a GNU project is to be accepted as a GNU package by RMS or the GNU
> evaluation team - and that's not our mandate here).
> 
> To take it to the extreme: Even for the worse-written source code
> that doesn't even compile - if it complies with the hosting
> requirement and policies - it should be accepted, and there's no need
> to comment to the author about the quality or style of the code.

I see.  I'd like to point out, though, that I classified them as
"technical advice" and said "Please, keep in mind that none of these
are strict requirements for the acceptance of your software package in
Savannah.".  I listed those suggestions and issues because I think
it's nice to use such opportunities to provide some feedback and
educate developers on technical matters, specially when that comes
with a low cost --- as a natural part of evaluating a package.
Speaking for myself, I'm always very grateful to people who suggest
things I haven't thought about, haven't known or haven't noticed.
Should I not do the same as a Savannah hacker?


> I'll refer you to my (somewhat surprised) questions, and to Karl
> Berry's insightful answers in this discussion:
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/savannah-hackers-public/2014-08/msg00026.html
> The entire thread is worth reading (in fact, all of Karl's posts in
> August 2014 are very helpful in this context since they cover much of
> the rules regarding savannah policies:
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/savannah-hackers-public/2014-08/index.html
> ).

I read all of them.  Thank you for pointing them out. :-)


> Helping with more evaluation: please do help, that is very much
> appreciate!. Continue with 'stive', and we'll send the evaluation
> when you have it.

Should I do something else besides changing those licensing actions
from "strongly encouraged" to "required"?


> To help with more projects, subscribe to this mailing list:
>    https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/savannah-register-public
> and you'll be notified whenever a new project is submitted (seems
> like an average of 1/day, sometimes more, sometimes less). Review it,
> and send your evaluations to address@hidden (I'll
> try to reply fast, but please allow few days).

I had already done that. :-)


> To get a 'feel' of what we're doing, examine past evaluations:
>     https://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13507
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13596
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13602
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13603
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13613
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13621
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13631
>     http://savannah.gnu.org/task/?13650
> And many others on the mailing list:
>     http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/savannah-register-public/

Thank you for pointing them out. :-)


> Expanding on this tedious and manual project evaluation,
> My dream is to automate as many parts of it as possible.
> Not just for savannah volunteers, but also for users: if the
> evaluation is automatic, they could run it locally on their projects
> before submitting the project - everybody wins.
> 
> Towards that, I'm working on a side-project and I'll be happy for any
> help: http://gnueval.housegordon.org/
> more details here:
> http://files.housegordon.org/gnueval/gnueval-email.txt
> 
> If you're interested in helping this project - that would be terrific.
> Write to me and we'll discuss further.

I'm interested in this!  Generally, I'm interested in any non-volatile
contribution that would help to make Savannah serve the free software
community better.


> Hope these are good pointers.

Thank you for your comprehensive answer! :-)


-- 
 ,= ,-_-. =.  Bruno Félix Rezende Ribeiro (oitofelix) [0x28D618AF]
((_/)o o(\_)) http://oitofelix.freeshell.org/
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GNU maintainer: ccd2cue
DMOZ free software editor (Portuguese)
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[GNU DISCLAIMER] I'm a GNU hacker, but my views don't necessarily
match those of the GNU project.  Hereby I express my own opinion,
style and perception, in good faith, aiming the betterment of GNU.

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