[aur-general] Proposed rules for packages entering [community]

[Aaron Griffin]

On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 9:27 PM, Allan McRae <allan at archlinux.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> As part of the TU meetings it was decided to post the proposal for
> restricting packages entering [community] here for discussion before voting.
>  Here is the current wording:
>
> [proposal]
>
> *  Only "popular" packages may enter the repo, as defined by 1% usage from
> pkgstats or 10 votes on the AUR.
>
> * Automatic exceptions to this rule are:
>  - i18n packages
>  - accessibility packages
>  - drivers
>  - dependencies, including makedeps and optdeps
>  - packages that are part of a collection and are intended to be distributed
> together, provided the primary part of this collection satisfies the
> definition of popular
>
> * Any additions not covered by the above criteria must first be proposed on
> the aur-general mailing list, explaining the reason for the exemption (e.g.
> renamed package, new package) at which point a general consensus from the
> TUs will be reached. TUs with large numbers of "non-popular" packages are
> more likely to be rejected.
>
> * TUs are strongly encouraged to move packages they currently maintain from
> [community] if they have low usage. No enforcement will be made, although
> resigning TUs packages may be filtered before adoption can occur.
>
> [end proposal]
>
>
> So, go ahead and discuss.  Especially focus on the wording and regions that
> people would feel need clarification before I call for a formal vote.  In
> particular, I think the process for addition of packages which do not meet
> the popularity criteria needs to be defined better, so any ideas there would
> be appreciated.
>
> Any further additions to do with cleaning the current package load in
> [community] for low usage package is a separate issue and will be discussed
> at a later date.

Just to throw something into the mix here. Even the developers follow
some policy on how we include packages in core and extra. Even we do
not have "free reign" to do whatever we feel like.

Adding a new package to extra:
* If it's a new dep or makedep, it's fine. Just add it
* It it's an optdepend, or a non-required dep, ask the list.
* Otherwise, ask the list
It's more or less a simple "anyone mind if I bring in A for reason B?"

That's it. Less strict than you all, but as far as I can tell, you
guys don't have very open communication between each other.

I'm just pointing out to the people who think "we don't need policy!
TUs should be free to do whatever!" that even the developers have
rules regarding this.