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Re: Net:SFTP



On Tuesday 17 May 2005 8:53 am, Gunnar Wolf wrote:
>
> You don't need to be a DD to contribute to Debian - Personally, I am
> sorry - I saw your list, but was (am?) too busy at the moment to do
> anything about it. Anyway, the best way to get your packages to the
> right people would probably be to start contributing to the Debian
> Pkg-perl Alioth project [1] - Many current contributors are not DDs,
> they only need to bug us DDs to do the uploads.
>
> Of course, regarding the note that Luk sent: You have to make sure the
> package is completely policy compliant - If Net::SFTP depends on
> packages not in the archive but all of them are DFSG-free, you have to
> package them all and put them all in main.

Where can licensing advise be received? Everything looks okay except the IDEA 
algorithm has a strange license.

This library is covered by the following licence:

====================================================
Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 Systemics Ltd (http://www.systemics.com/)
All rights reserved.

This library and applications are FREE FOR COMMERCIAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE
as long as the following conditions are adhered to.

Copyright remains with Systemics Ltd, and as such any Copyright notices
in the code are not to be removed.  If this code is used in a product,
Systemics should be given attribution as the author of the parts used.
This can be in the form of a textual message at program startup or
in documentation (online or textual) provided with the package.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
   must display the following acknowledgement:
   This product includes software developed by Systemics Ltd 
(http://www.systemics.com/)

   THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY SYSTEMICS LTD ``AS IS'' AND
   ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
   IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
   ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
   FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
   DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
   OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
   HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
   LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
   OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
   SUCH DAMAGE.

   The licence and distribution terms for any publically available version or
   derivative of this code cannot be changed.  i.e. this code cannot simply be
   copied and put under another distribution licence
   [including the GNU Public Licence.]
======================================================

I'm no lawyer. This license seems questionable to me.

Is an account needed to stick packages on Alioth? Will somebody verify the 
work and report any discrepancies (seems obvious this is the case).

To summarize, I have the following packages built and ready to be critiqued 
for quality. I am willing to fix any issues that may be found.

libclass-loader-perl
libconvert-ascii-armour-perl
libconvert-pem-perl
libcrypt-des-ede3-perl
libcrypt-dh-perl
libcrypt-idea-perl
libcrypt-primes-perl
libcrypt-random-perl
libcrypt-rc4-perl
libcrypt-rsa-perl
libdata-buffer-perl
libdigest-bubblebabble-perl
libmath-gmp-perl
libmath-pari-perl
libnet-sftp-perl
libnet-sshperl-perl
libtie-encryptedhash-perl

These are only about 2/3 of the dependencies for the Net::SFTP package, the 
rest are already in the debian archive.

We use these packages on a daily basis so I know I've got all the dependencies 
met however it was a tangled web and it's possible that one or two 
dependencies may not be needed. Is there a way to check dependencies that 
doesn't require sifting through code looking at "use" statements?

This is the first Perl stuff I've packaged. I just reviewed other Perl 
packages from the archive to get an idea of what to do.

>
> Yes, I think RFPs never really worked :-( But showing your work like
> you did over six weeks ago _should_.
>

Well it's definitely something to consider improving (RFP/ITP) but it's better 
than nothing I suppose. As far as showing work here... my intent was just to 
wave a flag saying "If someone needs this stuff, here it is". When I got no 
reply I just figured Net:SFTP was only something that was more specialized to 
our business needs and that nobody else needed this stuff.

I'm obviously game for improving Debian in any way and I would say better too 
many packages than not enough. At the same time I can only imagine that 
packages are often left unmaintained so it's an obvious need to have someone 
committed to keeping them up to date.

Providing I got things packaged correctly, these Perl packages (other than 
dependencies) are pretty simple to package. I use watch files to update 
things and with the initial work over, the maintenance is pretty simple. 

In conclusion, how can I get these packages onto Alioth and can I expect 
constructive feedback and/or guidance on getting these packages up to an 
exceptable level of quality?

I understand with Sarge looking to release by months end that everyone is 
extremely busy. I don't expect any hand holding nor do I expect getting these 
packages into the archive to be a simple and quick procedure. I'm obviously 
required to maintain these packages at work and I don't see that changing 
anytime soon. If I can get these packages to other Debian users as well as 
raise their level of quality and learn some valuable lessons along the way 
then I am 100% committed.

>
> You can also consider using dh-make-perl - If you just have to build
> simple packages out of CPAN modules and you don't feel like
> maintaining them in Debian, it's the easiest way out.

Some of the packages have C files as well. I don't know that dh-make-perl will 
work (I've never used it). Like I said, the initial work is over and 
maintenance is a simple chore now.

-- 
Eric Gaumer
Debian GNU/Linux PPC
egaumer@pagecache.org
http://egaumer.pagecache.org
PGP/GPG Key 0xF15D41E9

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