packg mngmnt model & other cygwin package releases...(where did they come from?)

[Linda W]

Igor Pechtchanski wrote:
> Announcing something on cygwin-apps means that the other maintainers will
> look at it if necessary, and that someone with access will eventually
> upload it to sourceware.org.  Once that happens, the package will be
> announced on cygwin-announce, and *that* does mean that it'll be available
> via setup soon. :-)
===
	Ahhh...hmm...I haven't understood (and am not entirely sure, if
yet, I do) the package release mechanism.  I would have thought that
package maintainers would have been able to check in their packages
directly -- perhaps, at least, under the experimental release section.

	If I understand you correctly, package maintainers first have
to announce something on cygwin-apps, then a few people who have
"cygwin-package approval" status eventually find the time to check in the
change?

	If I understand the linux-kernel model, different folk who are
maintain a particular driver or subsystem are responsible for collecting
any suggested changes to their "package" and check in changes themselves --
a distributed delegation model, whereas, if I understand you correctly
package owners aren't delegated the authority to check in/release new
versions of their packages?

	From what I gather, linus used to require all changes go through
him for pre-approval, but after it became "big enough", he was willing to
delegate check-in authority to specified package maintainers(?).

	Isn't the cygwin project large enough to delegate peripheral
(non-core) package update/checkin or is the cygwin source management
model not flexible enough for this granularity?  Or does cygwin have a
need for each individual package to be checked in.

	I wondered about this when I found a completely separate package
distribution (that appears to no longer be supported but was located
at http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/en/index.html).  Why didn't they just release
their packages through cygwin/setup?  Seems like they have a ton
(http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/en/bestlist.html) of packages for cygwin,
so many that put together a CD of gnu apps that run on cygwin.

	I'd never even heard about them before they went to "no maintenance"
mode...*sigh*...why weren't they developing under the standard
cygwin/setup package model?  I was just surprised by all the packages that
were available for cygwin outside of the cygwin project and wondered
why they felt a need to release their packages separately -- they sure
didn't get very good publicity -- I ran into them when I wanted to see
about "cdrecord" being ported to work under cygwin...Apparently it was,
at some point, as well as a bunch more utils.  Very strange.

	They claim the release doesn't have a "maintainer" even though
many of the packages do.  Is it possible to "invite" them to participate
through the main cygwin site or was there some reason they would refuse?

	Seems a shame to see so many utils go to waste...

-linda

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