From: UnixOS2 Archive To: "UnixOS2 Archive" Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 04:35:29 EST-10EDT,10,-1,0,7200,3,-1,0,7200,3600 Subject: [UnixOS2_Archive] No. 305 ************************************************** Tuesday 20 August 2002 Number 305 ************************************************** Subjects for today 1 Re: Some Ideas : John Poltorak **= Email 1 ==========================** Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 09:12:37 +0100 From: John Poltorak Subject: Re: Some Ideas On Tue, Aug 20, 2002 at 11:05:35PM +0200, Andreas Buening wrote: > John Poltorak wrote: > > > > [snip] > > > My view of UnixOS/2 has always been that we should get OS/2 accepted among > > the Open Source community as a legitimate host for running Open Source > > Software. If we can do this then building OS/2 versions of apps will not > > require jumping through various hoops as it does now in many cases. If we > > accept this starting point then we don't really need much space for > > source code, only pointers to where the original source is located. > > In theory, yes, in practise we need space for the sources, current > and earlier versions and, of course for the binaries, again current > and earlier versions. I don't understand why space is required for source code. As I said in my previous msg, since we are dealing with the original source, all we need is a link to it. The only source code needed at SourceForge would be the OS/2 specific patches along with a build script > Most packages are of the order of 1 MB for > sources and about the same for the binaries. 50 of them and we easily > exceed the 100 MB limit (for the current version only), even if the > sources for OS/2 and Unix are the same and if you use only links to them. I think that having 50 apps would be a useful start. Also, once a particular app has reached a release level it could be transferred to the main UnixOS/2 repository, ie. unixos2.com and SourceForge could simply provide a link for the binary distribution. > > All we > > really need are any required patches for an OS/2 release of an app. In > > some instances we can build OS/2 versions straight out of the box. > > Invariably, we will require an OS/2 build script. In effect all we need is > > space for patches and a build script which is a trivial amount of space as > > far as source code goes. > > > > I have long suggested that UnixOS/2 should be a SourceForge project and > > did try to get one started, but my request for this was rejected, probably > > because I didn't provide sufficient information. IMV SourceForge provides > > a great many features which would simplify the management of such a > > project. > > What exactly are the benefits for us? I've looked at their website > and they seem to have an 100 MB limit per project which means we'll > need our own ftp server in every case. They provide cvs but we don't > have one single source package we have dozens of them, every of them > gets a few changes, the results are submitted to the "official" > maintainer and that's it. cvs make sense if there is more than one > single person working on the same sources at the same time. I think > we'll be happy if we can find at least one maintainer for a package. > Bug tracking software? I can't speak for other people but if I get > two bug reports for one single package that's a lot. For this I don't > need any bug tracking. Mailing lists? Web forums? If we want to split > this mailing list we don't need SourceForge for it. > I'm sorry, but from my point of view we don't need SourceForge. > However, if you (especially some people who have experience with > SourceForge) know some other benefits I'll be glad to listen. I'm not particularly familiar with the ins and outs of SourceForge, but it seems to provide a sophisticated infrastructure for managing distributed software development. The alternative would mean re-inventing the wheel, but if someone wants to design an alternative environment then maybe we can use that. It could be that CVS can provide everything we need. It does seem to have a lot of functionality, but I have no idea how easy it would be to use it to manage something like a UnixOS/2 distro. Any CVS experts have a view on this? > [snip] > > > bye, > Andreas > > -- > One OS to rule them all, One OS to find them, > One OS to bring them all and in the darkness bind them > In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. -- John