Debian

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timscoding
Newbie Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2019 11:03 pm

Debian

Post by timscoding » Thu Nov 14, 2019 12:49 am

Hi Andrew,

I'm new here. I only found out about qcad a few days ago. I hope to become a heavy user, maybe even a contributor. I've written a lot of C/C++ in my life, worked on software docs professionally, but not lately. I haven't yet contributed much to open source.

I've been a huge fan of Debian for a long time, although never a package maintainer or Debian developer.

Per the debian.org logs, qcad was in Debian for a long time. They were packaging qcad v1, the last version of it, for many years, before they took it out saying v1 was not being maintained. They claimed v2 had some licensing issues. I didn't get into the licensing issue details since you are way past v2. They also said libre... was much better, although they seemed to be comparing it to qcad v1 :)

In any case, I found a few requests to put the current qcad back into Debian. Would you like that? I guess you had some personal issues with what happened, and maybe you are worried about another fork, or people using it without properly upgrading to pro. They way I see it, I expect the previous fork made you stronger. Competition builds excellence.

It should be pretty easy for someone to put qcad back in Debian. There is a considerable amount of setup to put in a new package, but this one isn't new, the setup was already done for the previously packaged version.

There are three primary reasons I can think of for packaging. 1. It is a little easier for Debian users to find and install. I probably would have started using it years ago. 2. Debian packages use a thorough system for automated regression testing that will make sure the packaged version continues to build and run as Debian evolves. 3. It will be delivered with Debian using their cryptographic key system so the delivery and installation process will be much more secure. Also, Debian has security processes in case holes are discovered.

Up to you. I would like to do this. I think it would increase your exposure and help you grow, maybe you would get more open source contributors. As I'm sure you know, Ubuntu and other systems are based on Debian, so this could really boost your user base.

I will be monitoring this post for replies, or feel free to email me directly.

Cheers :) ,
timscoding

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andrew
Site Admin
Posts: 9037
Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:07 am

Re: Debian

Post by andrew » Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:14 am

Thanks for your interest in packaging QCAD. The QCAD 3 Community Edition is released under the GPLv3 with optional exceptions. So, yes, you may absolutely package the QCAD CE for Debian if you wish. Be sure to check out a tagged version with a .0 at the end (e.g. v3.23.0.0) as these are considered "stable".

We are unable to provide support for compiling / using QCAD CE, but feel free to discuss QCAD CE issues at the dedicated forum at:
https://qcad.org/rsforum/viewforum.php?f=76

timscoding
Newbie Member
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2019 11:03 pm

Re: Debian

Post by timscoding » Thu Nov 14, 2019 9:34 am

Sounds good. I will request the package be reinstated and volunteer to maintain it if so, and I will keep the QCAD CE forum informed of the status.

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