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Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:54:20 -0400
Message-Id: <200004261454.KAA32086@envy.delorie.com>
From: DJ Delorie <dj AT delorie DOT com>
To: juliano AT cs DOT unc DOT edu
CC: cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com
In-reply-to: <Pine.SGI.4.10.10004260957240.111245-100000@cystine.cs.unc.edu>
	(message from Jeffrey Juliano on Wed, 26 Apr 2000 10:26:43 -0400)
Subject: Re: symblinks problem
References:  <Pine DOT SGI DOT 4 DOT 10 DOT 10004260957240 DOT 111245-100000 AT cystine DOT cs DOT unc DOT edu>


> > Nobody has added a vi to the download area yet, so it can't get
> > installed.
> 
> Should we take this remark to be soliciting help from the user community
> to add packages to the download area?  Or for volunteers to become
> `maintainers' of specific packages?

Yes.  We tried begging, but that didn't work, so now we're trying
subtlety ;-)

> Perhaps I missed it, but I don't see anywhere on the cygwin web pages
> describing how one can contribute software to the download area or become
> an official package maintainer[1].  I'm pointing this out in case it's an
> oversight[2].

Hey, we're new at this.  :-)

So far, we've just been talking about it.  We've been so busy with the
release and other things that we haven't had a chance to really
promote the idea of people maintaining individual packages, but that
was the whole point of reorganizing the download area.

> [1] Obviously, the FAQ hasn't been updated yet.

We have a new FAQ maintainer, who hopefully will be updating the FAQ
shortly.  Updating the FAQ right after a new release is difficult.

> Also, the wording at
> http://sourceware.cygnus.com/cygwin/post-article.html gives me no
> reason to believe that announcing there would result in this.

It won't.  All that does is post a note on the main web page.  That's
used for both package maintainers for sourceware, and for people doing
other projects on the net.

> And the info about the developers' list says to go that route only
> if one plans to work on winsup.

Right.  We've talked about a cygwin-porters mailing list, but for now,
the best choice seems to be the regular cygwin list.

> [2] Yes, I'd be willing to become a maintainer for something.  But, all
> the addons I use, except for X and ssh, are allready on the wonderful
> netpedia site, so I don't know how useful I can be at this time.

Choose something else, like vi (vim), xemacs, lynx, or any other
useful package with a suitable copyright (gpl or bsd, for example).
What about nethack, gnuchess, or doom?  You could also join the
development teams for core packages (like binutils, or bash) and test
the development snapshots, so that when they're released they "just
work".

There's lots of ways users can participate.  All you have to do is
find something you like that you feel comfortable working on.