I almost feel like I should apologize for opening the can of worms. Some
thoughts:
- Software contributed to FreeDOS needs to be free. (We already require
this. No problem ...)
- Contributed code should be free from contamination from non-free code.
Looking at leaked MS-DOS source code is enough to disqualify you from
contributing. We can't police this so it is important that people be
mindful and honest. (Reverse engineering executables is perfectly
allowable though.)
- Toolchains used to build software contributed to FreeDOS should not need
to be free. All that should be required is that any run-time libraries
should be able to be distributed freely. The software needs to be
unencumbered by royalties or any restrictions.
- While commercial toolchains might involve some cost, usually the cost is
modest - check eBay, Amazon and used software sites. If you work on a
project and you expect to get help it would be in your interest to use
something that is readily available and free, but ultimately that decision
belongs to the authors of the software.
- Exception: For the kernel and core utilities it is acceptable to require
a specific toolchain. This code is specialized enough where this
requirement is reasonable.
- New contributions should have a code review done by somebody with some
experience who has an interest in seeing the project continue to be
successful. Usually there is a maintainer who does reviews and approves
commits to a library. I think we have a loose version of that in place for
the kernel already. For the contributed software the role is less formal;
it is just more a matter of making a judgement call about whether the
software should be packaged with FreeDOS and checking the code for obvious
problems.
- Plus 1 (+1) to not requiring open source tool chains. I'd hate to see
gcc shoved down anybody's throats. People contribute code because it is
fun; it is their pet project. Encouraging open source tool chains is fine;
just don't require them. I'm afraid that reliance on djgpp will strand 16
bit machines without a really good reason. Lots of things that are
compiled 32 bit today can probably run on a 16 bit XT with 512K RAM.
- Software should be included in FreeDOS because it has an expected benefit
to FreeDOS users. While anything might be useful to somebody, FreeDOS
should not devolve into a shareware repository. Remember, just because
somebody doesn't ship with FreeDOS does not mean that it is not useful.
(That applies to both free software and commercial or less free software.)
Mike
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