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OS2VOICE RPM Server

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Martin Iturbide:
Hi

I talked with Roderick about his idea of having a RPM repository for OS2VOICE that will include OS/2 software (freeware/shareware new and old).  Roderick just gave a condition that he will not host any software that violate any regulation such as copyright laws (The server is located in the Netherlands and Dutch laws applies).

I found it interesting to have a different way to present software to the community in a way that can be downloaded and installed as simple as possible. I also think that the Netlabs RPM repository should not be used for all kind of OS/2 software, so I think it is a good idea to have a different server for it.  But I also think we need more resources on how the community can help creating RPM packaged for their favorite OS/2 software. For the moment I have personally failed creating my first package, but it is something that I need to try harder. But more samples, tutorials and specific information on how to create RPM packaged will be welcome.

So please let me know if you would like to sign in for the OS2VOICE RPM idea (and help with some RPM packaged) and if there are any doubts or things that need to be defined.

If you dislike RPM and don't want to help at all, there is no need to reply.

Regards

Dave Yeo:
Hi,
As we seem to be committed to using RPM now, the idea of a OS2VOICE rpm server seems good. There are programs such as FFmpeg that have many dependencies and could really benefit from a package manager as well as many programs where installation could be simplified by using RPM. OTOH, long range plans for ANPM include better support of WPI packages allowing them to co-exist better with rpm, so no need to totally drop Warpin.
Problems come from what exactly are the Dutch (and EU I guess) regulations. Copyright is complex enough with different jurisdictions having not quite compatible copyright laws. eg, a bunch of stuff just entered the public domain here in Canada, but in many jurisdictions, including the States, they're still under copyright. There's also differences in what can be copyrighted, some places a recipe can be copyrighted and others, not. Same with headers, their copyright status is not clear and is likely to vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and without a court case can be really unclear.
Then there are corner cases such as the discussion on cdrecord where strictly speaking, it seems copyright is being broken by distributing Froloff's patched cdrecord without source so no GPL licence. There's lots of stuff on Hobbes that likewise is probably a copyright violation but as long as the authours don't complain, it is fairly harmless.
More important when talking about multimedia applications in particular are patents. A lot of this stuff is patented and American law, as an example, is pretty strict in enforcement, as well as pretty liberal in what can be patented. I have no idea what the Dutch (and EU) regulations are on these patents and I'm not even sure about my country.
Debian, for example, gets around these problems by having non-free repositories hosted in safe countries, same with projects such as MPlayer. Then there is lame, which simply only distributes source code as it seems it takes a binary to infringe. This also opens up the possibility to compile some software on the users machines to work around these problems.

Last, but not least, is with an expanding number of repositories, is keeping them in sync to avoid RPM hell.

Dave Yeo:
I'll add that personally, I'm planning on trying to learn how to build rpm's and contribute to the OS2VOICE repository, time and my capabilities willing.

Andreas Schnellbacher:

--- Quote from: Dave Yeo on February 19, 2018, 09:35:11 pm ---There are programs such as FFmpeg that have many dependencies and could really benefit from a package manager as well as many programs where installation could be simplified by using RPM.

--- End quote ---
I think, I have an interesting case, regarding pro RPM or not. Even when one doesn't suspect any relation, RPM can benefit NEPMD, an addition to the system tool EPM:

In NEPMD, I've added several functions that require external tools. These tools were usually not compiled with VAC, nor EMX, but with GCC and Knut's k stuff. Tools, to be used by NEPMD are: md5sum, lxlite, kDiff3, gfc, recode, uconv, pmprintf.

Note that gfc, recode and pmprintf are the only ones that are not available as an RPM package. The situation has changed extremely, compared to when I had implemented the recode support.

Using RPM packages (via YUM or ANPM) eases the use of these tools and also will make it easy for me to document how to get them. I even think about providing an (still) alternative RPM package beside the WPI.

Andreas Schnellbacher:
I don't like the idea of another RPM server. netlabs.org just works and why should it be made more complicate to find a package? Do we expect masses of new packages beside those being already made available on netlabs.org?

If people (or VOICE) like(s) to host those stuff additionally, why not. But the main rep. should remain on netlabs.org, like Hobbes is the server for all others.

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