Re: GNU ELPA package discoverability

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

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  > You mention 'within the limits of our basic goals'. I don't think this has
  > been clearly defined 

The goal of the GNU Project is to develop the entirely-free operating
system GNU and rid the world of nonfree software.  It is a very
ambitious goal, but we will push as far as we can, and we will not
give up.

  >  Something which will need to
  > be considered at this point is available maintenance resources. For
  > example, at a high level, having a stable and reliable archive of elisp
  > packages which are guaranteed to be GPL compliant and do not reference,
  > link-to or encourage the use of non-free software, but does not require
  > assignment of copyright to the FSF may be a worthy goal. However, if the
  > resources are not available to maintain such an archive and  or
  > adding/updating code in the archive becomes a slow process because
  > approvals take too long (because there are insufficient resources), it
  > simply won't work.

Since we will put less effort into checking and maintaining these
packages than into GNU ELPA packages, we can surely handle more
packages in it.

How many more?  It isn't useful to worry about.  If this is the
right approach, we will try it and see how many.

  > Document process workflow, the steps a developer needs to follow in order
  > to get their code into the appropriate place and how to manage bugs,

Our usual approach is to try things, develop a practice that works,
then write it down.  Too much advance planning is a pain, and often it
turns out not to be useful.  Once we have real experience we can make
a better plan.

What we do need to write down are the criteria that would make a package
acceptable for each repositor.  We need that stated clearly so that
we make consistent decisions.

  > developer should be confident [perse] now know[s] what is the appropriate
  > location for [per] code

When would that question arise?  In what scenario?



-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)