Re: qmail project now on SF

[Rick Widmer <vchkpw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Christopher Chan wrote:
> Rick Widmer has got the qmail project name on SF.
>
> Whether some other party besides DJB should be allowed to use the name 
> qmail aside (you can change the name on sf, no big deal), does anybody 
> want to join that project?

I don't have any grand ideas on how _I'm_ going to make qmail better.  I
was just the first to think about grabbing the name when qmail became
public domain.  My intent is to offer it to the qmail community to
maintain the reference version of qmail.

First, to those who don't like the idea of using qmail for the project
name, I'm sorry.  I think it is important that the qmail name be
continued.  It is the first place people will look, and it should be the
version others are compared to.  Please help me make it happen!  I fear
that if there are only forks, qmail will lose critical mass and die
off.  I don't want to change mail servers.

While I was trying to decide if I was going to create the project I sent
private messages about it to Dr. Bernstein, and two of the netqmail
developers.  So far there are no replies.  If Dr. Bernstein would like
ownership of the project, or asks me to discontinue it, I will respect
his wishes. I have offered him the options.  Unless that happens I will
assume he released it as public domain because he no longer has time for
it, and it was done to allow qmail to remain viable into the future.  I
know when I no longer have time for vpopmail, or pMailAdmin I hope
someone else takes them over.

I offer access rights on the project to the authors of netqmail and
other major patches[1] as well as other major contributors on this list.
I hope you will be the group that decides the future of this project.
Future changes need to be well thought out and other than DJB himself
there just isn't anyone better to make those decisions.

My current plans don't go very far.  The first step will be to release
qmail-1.05, which will be the exact same thing as you get by applying
the netqmail-1.05 patches.  After that, everything else is up for
discussion. (Hopefully here.)

In my vision the next step is a ./configure script (not necessarily
GNU's) that lets you select frequently used patches, and maybe alias
'make install' to 'make setup check'.

Even after all the changes I have in mind what you end up with is still
exactly the same qmail that people are running today.  The only
difference, it is easier to build.  This is why I think it deserves the
qmail name.

Participation in this project is open to the qmail community, and if I
get my way I'm just the librarian and the release manager.  Wiser
minds than mine will decide what gets included.


That brings up my first question to the list...

Do we continue the discussion here, or should I create a list on
SourceForge and move there?


Next, according to my reading of the license and copyright on netqmail,
I am allowed to include it within my project.  If anyone disagrees,
please speak up!  If there are no objections before the weekend, I'll
release qmail-1.05 as described above.


Thanks,
Rick


[1]  If your patch is on qmail.org, send me your SourceForge ID and I'll
add you.