[maemo-developers] Updating the info for Extras-devel non-free

[From: Jeremiah Foster]

On Nov 27, 2009, at 11:15, Quim Gil wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> ext Jeremiah Foster wrote:
>> I am hesitant here, some of the testing process may require source
>> packages, either now or in the future. I am not certain that non-free
>> packages deserve to get all the free quality assurance that the
>> community provides. I think they should be grateful that they are
>> included at all and if they want to go through testing, they need to
>> at least provide a source package.
> 
> I think this had been discussed before. At least I remember a reply from
> Henrik (Mauku developer) explaining in quite plain English why even if
> source code availability is the ultimate resource for good testing, in
> practice most apps go through the QA without anybody checking that
> source, and even many tools analyzing power consumption and performance
> will check the binaries and not the source packages.

Yes that's true for the testing process. Maemian, a part of the QA process but not part of the testing / promotion process, works only on debs so it requires source code.
> 
> So the questions is in fact non-technical:
> 
> - Do you want non-free apps showing up in
> http://maemo.org/packages/repository/qa/fremantle_extras-testing/ ?

My personal answer is no.
> 
> - Do you want non-free apps showing up in
> http://maemo.org/downloads/Maemo5/ ?

There I don't care so much.
> 
> My personal opinion is that maemo.org has been always strong in open
> source but not exclusive, just like Maemo itself. In practice many users
> and developers got their first contact with free software thanks to this
> hybrid approach, and now some of them are in the first row of OSS
> evangelists.

I agree with you, if the community wants non-free apps in the repos then that is good enough for me.

Jeremiah