Fedora account

[Fredrik Tolf]

On Sat, 2005-08-06 at 22:49 -1000, Warren Togami wrote:
> I read through every message toward the approval of your icmpdn package, 
> and on multiple occasions it seemed to me that you simply did not read 
> the guidelines and procedures.
> 
> [...]

Indeed. The fact of the matter is that my original intention wasn't even
to become a maintainer or have CVS access or anything of the kind -- I
just wanted to get icmpdn into Fedora Extras for a couple of Fedora
machines that I manage for friends and family. Personally, I don't even
use Fedora, which explains my lack of confidence with the RPM system --
the RPM spec file was contributed to me by a third party, and it was
only from him that I learned how to build it using rpmbuild.

I really just googled about how to get a package into FE, and found the
NewPackageProcess in the Wiki. It was from there that I got the
impression that each contributor of a package must have CVS access and
maintain the package himself (I'm still not absolutely sure that this
conclusion corresponds to reality). I did not know of any other
guidelines or procedures, and was only referred to some of them once on
the list. Before I got started, I had no idea that having a package in
FE was such a large process that I had to sign agreements and read
guidelines and procedures.

As may be clear from the above, I'm not really particularly interested
in having CVS access or being a maintainer, but rather I'm really just
interested in developing and distributing icmpdn -- I've merely assumed
that it is my responsibility for being able to have a package in FE,
I'd. If that is not true, I'd appreciate a heads-up before I delve any
deeper into this. Don't get me wrong, though, I'll happily assume the
responsibility if indeed it is necessary.

In contrast, in the Gentoo portage system, you just submit an ebuild to
their bugzilla, and they make sure to get it into portage if it is
approved. It's a lot less responsibility for the contributors, but I'm
sure it's a lot more work for the Gentoo maintainers as well, and thus I
more than well understand if this is not an option in FE. However, this
entire process, necessary or not, is quite a threshold for people like
me who just want to get a package into FE.

My tour so far on the Fedora Extras list has certainly been a very good
learning experience, however, and I have learned to appreciate the RPM
system *much* more than I did previously. I'd like to thank the people
who donated their time on guiding me through it, especially Oliver Falk.

That's the end of my rant for now. :)

Fredrik Tolf