[Savannah-register-public] Re: [task #3833] Submission of Goutte à goutte

[Sylvain Beucler]

Hi,

We can host your project, if your primary goal is to create a version that 
works without proprierary dependency or OS, and if Savannah can help you in 
this task.

If you agree to this commitment, please say so.

We could then, for example, review your project again in a month and check the 
progress done.

Please note, by the way, that Savannah is not really French. We provide French 
translations of most of the user interface, and I am French, but the service is 
located at Boston and involves people from among others USA and Chile.

-- 
Sylvain

On Sat, Mar 05, 2005 at 07:35:44PM +0100, Frédéric Vasseur wrote:
> Hi, and thank you for your response.
> 
> The main reason why I want this project to be hosted on a free-software 
> platform is that I want it to be ported to GNU/Linux (and other systems, 
> but this one is important for me).
> I don't mind the language, so if the port is done in C++ (for example) it 
> will be reverse-ported to Windows to have the project written in C++ for 
> all platforms. Therefore Visual Basic won't be used anymore.
> 
> Regarding the licence, I am completely ready to use the GNU/GPL.
> 
> I think it is quite important to help proprietary OSes users to switch to 
> free environments. Keeping this in mind, it would have been interesting for 
> you to host this kind of service : migrate applications to free OSes.
> 
> Anyway, thank you once more for your response.
> 
> I'll find another way to have my project hosted. Do you know where I could 
> achieve that (I'd prefer not going to SourceForgen because this project is 
> mainly in French and should stay so) ?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> 
> Fred.
> 
> 
> 
> >From: Sylvain Beucler <address@hidden>
> >To: Frédéric Vasseur <address@hidden>, Sylvain Beucler 
> ><address@hidden>, address@hidden
> >Subject: [task #3833] Submission of Goutte à goutte
> >Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 17:05:12 +0000
> >
> >Update of task #3833 (project administration):
> >
> >         Should Start On:                         => Sat 03/05/2005 at 
> >00:00
> >   Should be Finished on:                         => Sat 03/05/2005 at 
> >00:00
> >                  Status:                    None => Cancelled
> >             Assigned to:                    None => Beuc
> >             Open/Closed:                    Open => Closed
> >
> >    _______________________________________________________
> >
> >Follow-up Comment #1:
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >I'm evaluating the project you submitted for approval in Savannah.
> >
> >(English is the only language that the whole Savannah team understand and
> >needed for transparency and archival. I will therefore reply in English,
> >although you can send me a private mail in French for precisions)
> >
> >
> >The first problem is that your project relies on proprietary technlogies,
> >Visual Basic and the .Net Framework.
> >
> >It cannot be hosted on Savannah in its current state for this reason.
> >
> >Savannah is willing to provide resources and time to developers writing 
> >Free
> >Software that can be used without the need to ask permission from 
> >proprietary
> >software vendor.
> >
> >
> >The second problem is portability.
> >
> >First, we only host projects that can run on a free operating system (such 
> >as
> >GNU/Linux).
> >
> >(Incidentally, "Linux" is just a kernel of a more complex system that we 
> >like
> >to refer to as GNU/Linux, to emphasize the ideals of the Free Software
> >movement. For more information, see
> >http://www.gnu.org/gnu/linux-and-gnu.html.)
> >
> >We have adopted this policy because now that completely free operating
> >systems exist, we do not want to encourage users of those systems to start
> >using proprietary operating systems so that they can use your program.
> >
> >If you are willing to maintain a version for free operating systems, which
> >work as well as or better than other ports, you can then provide versions 
> >for
> >non-free systems as well.  The idea is that at no point should only-free 
> >users
> >be at a disadvantage compared to users of proprietary software.
> >
> >Your project should always work equally well in free systems as in any 
> >other
> >version you provide; if you have some modules for non-free systems, you can
> >delay their release until you have released the free operating system
> >version.
> >
> >Moreover, the fact you use Visual Basic makes it nearly impossible to make 
> >a
> >port to GNU/Linux. Visual Basic is meant to be used only for MS Windows, no
> >matter how you code with it, and there is no free replacement for it that
> >could be ported to GNU/Linux (although there are .Net framework free
> >replacements, such as DotGNU and Mono, there is no ways to compile VB under
> >GNU/Linux). The only thing that could happen is rather a complete rewrite 
> >for
> >GNU/Linux, making it a double effort to maintain the application 
> >eventually.
> >
> >From my experience, I also can tell that Visual Basic is so much unportable
> >that usually you could not even take a VB4, 5 or 6 application and use it 
> >in
> >any other version of VB.
> >
> >It is better, especially when starting a new development, to use free,
> >non-proprietary technologies from the start, even if you are not familiar
> >with them yet - it will save time after.
> >
> >Free software development environments do exist.
> >"Glade" is a graphical environment to build applications that works with 
> >the
> >"Gtk+" graphical toolkit. Glade can only be used under GNU/Linux, but
> >applications created with it, such as Gaim (gaim.sf.net), run under both
> >GNU/Linux and MS Windows. Gtk+ is meant to be used with the C programming
> >languages, but can be used by other more higher level languages such as
> >Python.
> >
> >wxWindows is another portable graphical toolkit, although I'm not sure it 
> >has
> >a GUI builder.
> >
> >I am not an expert on GUI builders, so maybe you should ask on forums to 
> >get
> >more advices on free software portable GUI builders.
> >
> >
> >Last, there are also some problems with your license.
> >
> >The most important issue in your license is that it doesn't allow 
> >commercial
> >use. Check http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Commercial and
> >http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html for more information.
> >
> >It is almost always better to use an existing license, than to write your
> >own. By using your own license, you take the risk to run into legal issues,
> >whereas exsisting where written or validated by lawyers.
> >
> >Your license is also in French. For a project distributed on the Internet, 
> >it
> >makes sense to write a license in English. If think you do need a license
> >written in French, you may want to have a look at the CeCILL license, which
> >was written to be conform to the French laws, and is compatible with the 
> >GNU
> >GPL.
> >
> >Requiring to provide a binary along with any distribution of the source 
> >code
> >can be inconvenient as well.
> >
> >There is also some details about sections that cannot be modified in the
> >documentation. In this case, we recommand to give the documentation a 
> >special
> >license, such as the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL). This is not a 
> >free
> >software license, is incompatible with the GNU GPL, but is perfectly ok for
> >free documentation. Among others, it offers to declare invariants
> >non-technical sections. Check http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#FDL
> >
> >
> >So we cannot host your project at Savannah for now. If however you can base
> >your project on free portable technologies and switch to existing licenses
> >such as the GNU GPL or any GPL-compatible licenses such as the GNU LGPL or
> >the Expat license, then please resubmit your project and we will reconsider
> >it for inclusion at Savannah.
> >
> >Regards.