Source Repositories

Submitted by EnigmaOne on Fri, 07/14/2006 - 18:49. Packages
Posts: 1634

I've been watching the discussion regarding the necessity for source repos for derivative distro providers.

At this point, it looks like SM is dealing with a dual-identity in that very respect--Debian and Ubuntu--unless I'm of an incorrect understanding of the situation at present.

Is there a place for community involvement with respect to developing and maintaining source availability for those who purchase, download and use the SimplyMEPIS distribution?

Is Warren interested in well-intentioned, volunteer assistance?

Some of us would like to help in this respect.

How can we lend a hand?

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Good Idea

Submitted by Jon Du Quesne on Sat, 07/15/2006 - 22:46.
Posts: 5513

EnigmaOne, I think you have a good idea. There appears to be more fallout on this idea of providing source on Slashdot today:
Slashdot | Ubuntu Open to Aiding Derivative Distributions
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/07/15/1959221.shtml
Although, in the original post the author attributes the "original" discussion to Bruce Byfield. Am I mistaken? I thought some of this originally came up because of a discussion with Warren!

I found the comments made by xtifr to be informative ("*bzzt* thanks for playing!"). I am going to quote him/her in entirety since it makes sense to me Smiling

xtifr wrote:

> "On the server where I distribute the packages, I only need to distribute the latest version of the compiled code; however, due to the GPL requirements, I have to keep source packages available for the next 3 years -- that is, I need to keep 150+ source packages available."

No, that's not true! I don't know if you're merely ignorant or trying to FUD, but bottom line is that you're simply wrong!

If you're making the source available with the binaries, then you don't need to make the source available for three years. The three-year clause (clause 3b) only applies if you're not providing source when you provide binaries. You can either (3a) provide source with the binaries or (3b) include a three-year written offer to provide the source or (3c) pass along a 3b offer that you received (non-commercial distributors only). Those are alternative options, not simultaneous requirements. And nobody with any sense uses anything but clause 3a! (Note: I've used all three.)

Look at the last paragraph in section 3: "If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code." (Emphasis mine.) This is the famous "equivalent access" clause that almost all non-commercial distros rely on, and have for years. (At least, all the ones run by people with any sense.)

So having source and binaries on your site qualifies as complying with clause 3a, and you don't need to worry about the three-year feature of 3b!

If you're distributing on CD/DVD, the same reasoning applies. Just ship the source too! Yes, it may double your up-front media costs, but those are trivial compared to your other costs, and it's going to save you a lot of trouble down the road.

Now, my own opinion. I am not yet ready to help provide a website for downloading source/binary. But I would like to. How easy/difficult is it to set up "repositories" and other directories and make them available to the outside world? I will soon be building a new computer for my own development work, and I would like to know how I might set up a smaller system into which I could put repositories for updating my own systems. I would also like to perhaps create a "mirror site" for placing Mepis distributions that others would be able to download from. EnigmaOne and others, do you have some good links explaining how this is done? I may be a software developer, but not in the Linux world. So I don't have any real knowledge of how to do this, how much it costs, how much space would be used. You know, simple questions Smiling

But yes, if folks out there in the world can "share" music and other stuff, the least we can do is make it easier for people to download and use a better operating system Smiling

Jon

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repositorys

Submitted by james e. thompson on Sun, 07/16/2006 - 02:06.
Posts: 2280

Been thinking about both your posts and am thinking this is a very good idea! Am allso interested in any & all means to bring it about if some one in the know would share info on needs of hardware and how to go about it. Personally i havent a clue what the requirements for this would be in upkeep dollar wise. Would like to see it bounced around if nothing else.

jim

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The quoted text, by Bruce

Submitted by EnigmaOne on Sun, 07/16/2006 - 03:01.
Posts: 1634

The quoted text, by Bruce Byfield, was originally published over at NewsForge:
http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/06/07/07/2044245.shtml?tid=138&tid=2

My ISP has already nixxed the idea of allowing me to set-up a direct mirror on my wire. Bummer, because I can actually spare the drive space for something like this.

I'm pretty sure that I'd hose the family budget if I bought the server space and took the hit on bandwidth...and I can only get 15Gigs at a reasonably affordable price...hmmmm.

I think I'll have a chat with my hosting provider--he's a 100% Linux shop--to see if he'd be interested in participating in some aspect of the infrastructure provisioning for something like this (even if it's just hosting a source mirror or the like).

Such is the nature of half-formed ideas like this one....I really don't know where it'll end-up; but it should be fun to see what happens along the way.

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The quoted text, by Bruce

Submitted by james e. thompson on Sun, 07/16/2006 - 15:53.
Posts: 2280

I have to say the more i read on this subject the more confusing it gets to me. Not being a lawyer all this upstream downstream stuff leads me to believe Warren is only responsible for the code he modifies. In short im not sure exactly what to expect or think!
On another note stockpiling packages doesnt seem so easy either. It looks like a domain name & christ knows what is needed for that , my isp flatly forbids it.It has crossed my mind that Cblue might be a great source of info about this kind of thing as she's allmost there anyway. But without knowing if its necessary to Mepis its kind of a moot issue.

jim

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I can actually subdomain to

Submitted by EnigmaOne on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 15:53.
Posts: 1634

I can actually subdomain to one of my own domain names, having only used 9 of my 20 sub-slots, so that isn't a big deal--or even dedicate a domain name to the purpose.

Again, the hit is on the server space and bandwidth to serve the sources (should Warren decide that something like this is appealing to him); which occasioned my seeking an audience with my hosting provider, who is currently hobnobbing at Hostingcon, in Vegas.

I'd really love to get him to feel warm-n-fuzzy ahout lending a bit of a hand in this.....I'll keep trying to get in touch with him.

It would be nice to know if Warren is seeing this at all (tried leaving him a message on the phone), and what his take on all this might be.

I'd hate to get a ball rolling only to find out that it's ultimately going nowhere.

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I can actually subdomain to

Submitted by james e. thompson on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 16:20.
Posts: 2280

Ten four to all of that. It would be a shame to get this going without need or necessity. But still think it would be super kool to have specific repos available. I had a not successful time the other day with w32codecs , i finally found them in backup. Debian server was down or lawyers are screwing us over on some things . The legal climate may be making some hesitant to host these packages. Time will tell i suppose....

jim

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debian-multimedia

Submitted by Bad Dog on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 20:53.
Posts: 565

james e. thompson wrote:

I had a not successful time the other day with w32codecs jim

See if this helps.
www.debian-multimedia.org/dists/

regards,
Bad Dog
SimplyMEPIS 6.0-rc-3 - KDE 3.5.3 - kernel 2.6.15-25

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EnigmaOne send an e-mail to

Submitted by AdrianTM on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 21:00.
Posts: 4077

EnigmaOne send an e-mail to Warren directly, he might not read this thread. However I doubt the space or server is the problem as the preparations of all that...
--
Post questions on www.mepislovers.org too.
Check out our wiki: www.mepislovers-wiki.org

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debian-multimedia

Submitted by james e. thompson on Tue, 07/18/2006 - 21:55.
Posts: 2280

Thanks Bad Dog i'll give it try next time ! Probably wont be too long either. (chuckle) Seems lately its one big install. Eye-wink

jim

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Source Repositories

Good Idea

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The quoted text, by Bruce

The quoted text, by Bruce

I can actually subdomain to

I can actually subdomain to

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EnigmaOne send an e-mail to

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