No, FSF/GNU definitely do not (and can not) have the review process covered. This has been a problem since day one of the free distro list.
I, with my GNU hat on, am the person who added that text to the gnu.org web site, after discussions with John Sullivan, and who sent Joshua et al. here recently. John had the idea that this group (g-l-l) already reviewed potential free distros. And there have certainly been replies here to potential distros. It seems now that no definite procedure has been established. So let's establish one, ok? Coordinating through the Incoming_distros page seems as good as any, to me. The idea of the text that is on gnu.org is basically not to advertise this list terribly widely; we wouldn't want every user who thinks the distro s/he uses is cool to write here in enthusiastic ignorance. It happens quite a bit. Thus, the GNU webmasters can provide a basic level of filtering such that (a) the distro authors/maintainers are actually interested in being listed, and (b) the distro at least meets the most obvious criteria, like having an explicit commitment to free software. After the recent mail, I also added another check for GNU webmasters to make -- that the sources are readily available. Thoughts? Thanks, kb
