/!\ Warning: This is only a proposal at this time, and not approved for project-wide application. This should not be applied before being officially turned into a GNOME Goal.

GNOME Goal: Updating README, HACKING, etc. files and other information

Guidelines

Lots of people download tarballs of our modules but when they read the files included, like README, HACKING, etc (the files that should include info for possible contributors or just groupies). These people read the files and find outdated urls or email address that last had activity when Yahoo announced IM service.

{i} Grep your module for ancestral email addresses of you, check README, HACKING, COPYING, etc for outdated info like old copyright info or outdated license references. Check for old names of your product or oldness indicators.

Check:

  • AUTHORS, COPYING (check for updated list of contributors, correct license info)
  • HACKING, README, NEWS, TODO, INSTALL (check for real addresses, real urls)
  • Check the header of your files to make sure they have adequate license info (the "this file is free..." part)

Make sure there's no surreal info there, if there's nothing good to put something more useful than "this are default installation instructions...". Can we came out with a template for that?. Something that looks and sounds gnomey.

  • Update the address of the Free Software Foundation

Comments before approval

Update files and the copyright headers in sources files (list all authors, dates...), and make sure that those files are distributed in the tarballs (currently, MAINTAINERS files are generally not distributed, for example)

LucasRocha: Actually, it would be nice to have a copyright header guide to help developer on several situations (i.e. code "borrowing" from other modules)

BehdadEsfahbod: ok, just dumping my ideas here right now:

  • Also update MAINTAINERS. Make sure MAINTAINERS and HACKING are in Makefile.am's EXTRA_DIST. README, NEWS, TODO, and INSTALL are automatically distributed. A THANKS file is typically used to. That can be used to differentiate between main authors and misc contributors if needed.
  • In all source files, make sure the correct address of the FSF is used, and update the Copyright holders and years (years should be listed in a comma separated list. No ranges allowed.). While at it, it may make sense to summarize each module's license. The interesting point is which modules are "GPL 2", and which are "GPL 2 or later".
  • Make sure version numbers of the module and its dependencies are uptodate in README. Better would be to remove such versions from static files.
  • For INSTALL, if there are no specific instructions, the file should be removed from svn and automake will automatically add the default. If we want something more GNOMEy, it should be done in gnome-common and gnome-autogen.sh.

MatthiasClasen: This goal should be updated to mention doap files

Status of this goal

{i} Tip: If you choose to work on a module, create the bug report on the GNOME bugzilla. This way people will know someone already works on it, and won't duplicate the work you're doing.

State

Markup

todo

<: #ff8080> todo

patch

<: #ffc849> [[GnomeBug:xxxxx|patch]]

done

<: #80ff80> [[GnomeBug:xxxxx|done]]

not needed

<: #80ff80> not needed

Above are the states and corresponding markup to update the modules state table below.

Tarball

Status

Desktop

bug-buddy

to do

control-center

to do

dasher

to do

deskbar-applet

to do

eel

to do

ekiga

to do

eog

to do

epiphany

to do

evince

to do

evolution-data-server

to do

evolution

to do

evolution-exchange

to do

evolution-webcal

to do

fast-user-switch-applet

to do

file-roller

to do

gcalctool

to do

gconf-editor

to do

gdm

to do

gedit

to do

gnome-applets

to do

gnome-backgrounds

to do

gnome-desktop

to do

gnome-doc-utils

to do

gnome-games

to do

gnome-icon-theme

to do

gnome-keyring

to do

gnome-keyring-manager

to do

gnome-netstatus

to do

gnome-nettool

to do

gnome-mag

to do

gnome-media

to do

gnome-menus

to do

gnome-panel

to do

gnome-python-desktop

to do

gnome-screensaver

to do

gnome-session

to do

gnome-speech

to do

gnome-system-monitor

to do

gnome-system-tools

to do

gnome-terminal

to do

gnome-themes

to do

gnome-user-docs

todo

gnome-utils

to do

gnome-volume-manager

to do

gnopernicus

to do

gok

to do

gstreamer

to do

gst-plugins

to do

gtk-engines

to do

gtkhtml

to do

gtksourceview

to do

gucharmap

to do

libgail-gnome

to do

libgnomeprint

to do

libgnomeprintui

to do

libgtop

to do

librsvg

to do

libsoup

to do

libwnck

to do

metacity

to do

nautilus

to do

nautilus-cd-burner

to do

network-manager-applet

to do

orca

to do

scrollkeeper

to do

seahorse

to do

sound-juicer

to do

startup-notification

to do

totem

to do

vino

to do

vte

to do

yelp

to do

zenity

to do

Platform

GConf

to do

at-spi

to do

atk

to do

gail

to do

glib

to do

gnome-mime-data

to do

gnome-vfs

to do

gtk+

to do

gtk-doc

to do

intltool

to do

libglade

to do

libxml2

to do

libxslt

to do

pango

to do

pkgconfig

to do

Platform (to be deprecated)

ORBit2

to do

audiofile

to do

esound

to do

libIDL

to do

libart_lgpl

to do

libbonobo

to do

libbonoboui

to do

libgnome

to do

libgnomecanvas

to do

libgnomeui

to do

Admin

pessulus

to do

sabayon

to do

Development Tools

anjuta

to do

devhelp

to do

glade3

to do

Bindings (C++)

glibmm

to do

gtkmm

to do

libglademm

to do

gconfmm

to do

libgnomecanvasmm

to do

libgnome-vfsmm

to do

libgnomemm

to do

libgnomeuimm

to do

libxml++

to do

Bindings (java)

libgtk-java

to do

libgnome-java

to do

libgconf-java

to do

libglade-java

to do

Bindings (perl)

Glib

to do

Gtk2

to do

Gtk2-GladeXML

to do

Gnome2-GConf

to do

Gnome2-Canvas

to do

Gnome2-VFS

to do

Gnome2

to do

Bindings (python)

pygobject

to do

pygtk

to do

GnomePython

to do

Other

gthumb

to do

Initiatives/GnomeGoals/UpdateInfoFiles (last edited 2013-12-18 13:44:45 by LuisMenina)