[kde-freebsd] the kde-freebsd cvs repository's sordid history (was Re: cvs commit: area51/Mk bsd.emacs.mk ...)

[Will Andrews]

I just want to explain a few things, for the record.

I set up the kde-freebsd project cvs repository about 4 years
ago, and we had maintained dedicated cvs & developers lists for
project work since then.

Not many people not formally part of the project expressed
interest in the repository.  We used it as a "proving ground" to
iron out problems with prerelease ports before committing them to
the freebsd ports tree.  Another purpose I had envisioned was to
give testers an opportunity to try them out and contribute.  Very
few testers ever showed up, and most eventually left.

All that was after we spent about two years building packages
from CVS, to find and fix problems before KDE release candidates
happened.  The goal being to fix them at the source so none of
the users ever saw them, either manifested, when built from
original source, or fixed as a patch in the freebsd ports tree.

You may also remember that we once posted just-in-time package
sets for release.  There were also prerelease package sets
available for testing.  But since no one ever used them (and
explicitly helped with the prerelease testing) except for lofi
and whoever else was helping with the release, we simply stopped
this practice, since it just wasted resources.

So although it has always been publicly accessible, the repo's
location was "documented" in mailing list posts on said old
developers/cvs list archives.  When we moved to kde.org's mail
server, I decided there was no point in keeping the lists separate
since not much activity was happening on any of them.  So that's
why you are seeing CVS mail now that you didn't before.  It has
been sent for 4 years now, just on a different but also public list.

I have a copy of the old list archives, but have not made them
available yet.  If there is demand, I will deal with it sooner.

If anyone wants to help test and/or work on the ports before they
hit the ports tree, I'm sure lofi would really appreciate it.  In
particular, patches that fix things.

Times have changed and I think other people should help carry the
project forward.  However, as lofi is currently doing most/all
the work on the freebsd side of things, I'll defer the logistics
of this to him.

I thank you all in advance for helping make KDE on FreeBSD the
excellent desktop that it is.  Although I do not personally work
on it anymore (~5 years was enough), I still use it every day.

Yours with hats: KDE-FreeBSD project cofounder (August 2001),
				 Original author, Qt/KDE 2 ports (July 2000),
-- 
wca
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