Getting Software Added to Unix Distributions?

suso asks: "I've been working on a set of programs called num-utils that I would eventually like to be considered for inclusion in some of the many free Un*x distributions (on the install CDs, etc). So my question is, how does one put their applications on the track to be included in the main distribution of Red Hat, Debian, SuSE, *BSD, and so on? Is this just something that is up to the maintainers or are there submission forms of some kind?"

Comments

Write a text editor

[Anonymous Coward]

Write another text editor app, then it will be sure to be included in the distro. Distros dont have enough text editors in them.

Make noiseb about it

[makapuf]

Not to sound flamebait, but you're quite right in doing it : giving it the maximum visibility (for example by posting a link to it on a popular news discussion site) will make a few people notice it exists.

Now, the main question is does it do ogg ?

Publish first to website.

[marcovje]

Two ways:

How we did it (fpc, a pascal compiler)
- First the app was published on our site only, and gained momentum and peer review. This stage took several years.
- for the distributions where ordinary users can submit packages (*BSD ports and Debian) somebody
will do a port in time. You could do that yourself of course and speed up the process.
- After a time the commercial ones pick it up if it is really good. You can lobby for that too, but maintainers might also contact you if you have critical mass.
I found SUSE always the most responsive. RedHat is the only major that doesn't include it, and has been promising it for the next major version since 6.x times.

About SUSE there is a nice anecdote. I mailed our contact that a new version was out, and got a reply back that the final ISO had already been made. Two days later I got a mail back that they had to update a critical bug, and also updated our package to the newer version (which was a fixes only release btw)

The second way is to try to submit your packages to the FSF, so not just GPL it, but really get in bed with the FSF
FSF stuff more readily gets into distro's than third party projects. Of course again, they will only be really interested if your work is phenomenal.

Simply send it to SCO

[Advocadus Diaboli]

They will take care of it and will find evidences that your code is already illegally included in all major distributions, the kernel and the rest of the world. And they will offer a license for using it.

On Perl and command-line utilities

[juahonen]

Your mathematical utilities would be more useful if you had programmed them in C. Your choice of language will limit their adoption. Basically because using Perl scripts is not as fast as calling compiled C programs. This fact alone will make people reductant of using your utils in their code.

Because FreeBSD doesn't ship Perl as standard part of their distribution anymore, it'll be likely that your utils will not get included in any BSD software because it would pull in Perl. It may be a reason for Linux distributions too for not using your num-utils. Debian may be the only distribution which relies on Perl.

Debian

[nvainio]

If you want your program to be included in Debian, you may package it yourself. Debian New Maintainer's Guide is a good place to start at.

Or, you could file an RFP (Request For Package). See instructions.

Meanwhile for Windows developers...

[Flashpoint X]

Thankfully in the Windows world I don't have to concern myself about getting included in "official" distributions... I prefer to distribute my software via self-propagating emails. ;)

How it worked for me ..

[stevey]

Once upon a time I wanted an MP3 streaming server, none of the ones I looked at did what I wanted. So I did the standard thing and designed my own.

After releasing my first version to freshmeat I had about five subscribers to the project.

These subscribers gave me patches, feedback, and encouragement.

Doing a websearch for the project name I discovered by accident that the the package made it into Gentoo, and similarly Netbsd without any feedback or involvement from myself!

The next step was my becoming a Debian Developer so that I could upload it there - and not worry about other people doing a bad job without me. (Not a real concern; I had wanted to join Debian for some time anyway).

Now life is good - I've no idea if it's in RedHat because I've not touched it for years, but SuSE include it the *BSD's and Gentoo cover it, and Debian gets the latest versions all the time.

Freshmeat lists 120+ subscribers to the project, and it's probably on the verge of becoming an official GNU package sometime soon.

If you use it and like it buy something nice? </ObPlug>

unique?

[battjt]

Your commands are already installed on my system, or aren't needed.

average
awk '{sum+=$1}END{print sum/NR}'
bound
awk 'NR==1{min=$1}{max=$1>max?$1:max;min=$1 &lt; min?$1:min}END{print min,max}'
interval
awk '{print $1-last; last=$1}'
numgrep ( 500 < x < 1000 or x is a multiple of 3)
awk '$1 < 1000 && $1>500 || $1%3 == 0 {print $1}'
numproc
awk '{print $1 [[your math expression expressed in standard infix notation]]}'
numsum
awk '{sum += $1}END{print sum}'
random
awk supports rand(), bash has $RANDOM, Linux has /proc/random for a stream of random data. Any range can be chosen using 'numproc', for instance /1..10/ is 'rand() * 10 + 1'
range
Why are you ever instantiatin ranges? It wastes space. Ranges should be abstractly manipulated.
round(floor)
awk '{print int($1)}'
round(nearest n)
awk '{print int($1/n)*n}'

These commands are easy to use and have a transparency that makes it very clear what the bugs would be, where as num-utils has warnings like

round will drop off the decimal places in decimal numbers. This may cause some calculations to be in error, depending on how you are using the data.

that make me wonder what round does if it has problems with decimal numbers.

Joe

Re:Linux is not Unix

[Anonymous Coward]

Did I just notice a recursive acronym here?
Linux Is Not UniX

Prepare to be modded down.