Re: bsd-games--one package or many?

[Ronald Landheer-Cieslak <blytkerchan at users dot sourceforge dot net>]

Personally, I would certainly prefer splitting up the package - especially
if the diff games have different dependencies. 

To download all the games, you can simply download the entire category, 
so I don't think we need a single package that depends on all the games. 
OTOH you might want such a package if you want to build the games from a 
single source tree.

WFIW, you stand a very good chance at getting the minimum three votes and one
review if you do decide to ITP one or more games.

rlc

NB: for the non-free games, remember anything linked to Cygwin is GPLed. If
   the original license doesn't allow that, you can't package the game(s).

On Thu, Oct 16, 2003 at 07:05:26PM -0600, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote:
> 
> Greetings,
> 
> I'm fairly new to cygwin-apps, but I've been lurking on the main cygwin
> list for a few months.  Subscribed to the digest, so it never seems
> worth actually replying to anything, which is probably all to the good.
> 
> I've been considering porting bsd-games to Cygwin, and recently managed
> to stop considering and actually do something about it.  I've gotten the
> code to compile, though sometimes only by commenting out things like
> flock() calls(fcntl() research is still forthcoming).  I also managed to
> link in err.c through a somewhat hamhanded approach that I'm not happy
> with.  I think I've also managed to track the code to its upstream
> source.
> 
> It has occurred to me, though, to wonder whether bsd-games would be best
> done as a single monolithic package, or as a number of smaller packages,
> per game or the like.
> 
> If it was a single package, then it would take up less space on the
> packages list, and it would be easier to synch it up with release numbers
> from sites like Debian.  It's also a group of programs that traditionally
> go together.
> 
> On the other hand, three of the programs(wtf, fortune, and robots)have
> already been released as separate packages.  If a bsd-games package was
> then added, should they be merged in?  Left out?  Added as dependencies?
> 
> Some of the programs are ncurses-dependent, and some are not.  "factor"
> can be built to depend on openssh(?) to use its factoring routines, but
> I'd hesitate to make the whole package dependent on that.  Some of the
> programs are not really game-like("number", for instance).
> 
> I know that Debian has also split up the package because of licensing
> uncertainties; I think only "rogue" is on the bsd-games-nonfree package,
> but I think there are others that have been left out of the packages
> entirely because of unclear licensing.  I don't know if that's an issue
> for Cygwin.
> 
> I also harbour some doubts about the legality of propagating "monop", for
> example, which is surely trademarked or copyrighted or something by the
> makes of the Monopoly boardgame.
> 
> Also, if it's done as smaller packages, it'd be easier for me as a
> first-time packager, and I'd be able to get something ready to release
> more quickly.
> 
> So I'm leaning towards multiple packages, but I'd like to get opinions
> from others before I commit to it.
> 
> One thing that I also wondered about was "words", as in
> "/usr{/share}/dict/words".  Wordlists are required for "hangman" and
> "boggle", at least, and as far as I can tell aren't available in the
> Cygwin installation anywhere.  Is that another package people might be
> interested in?  If I can find a wordlist I'm happy with, anyway...
> 
> 
> --
> --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/)
> Song In My Head--Barenaked Ladies:Another Postcard
> Current Book--Jean M. Auel:The Plains of Passage
> Wind that speaks to the leaves, telling stories that no one believes

-- 
If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make
something out of you.
		-- Muhammad Ali