On 26 June 2013 02:14, Barrie Treloar <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 26 June 2013 09:47, sebb <[email protected]> wrote:
>> I could not find any download links for Maven source packages.
>>
>> As the ASF primary purpose is to release source, and that must be
>> released via the mirror system, there ought to be download pages with
>> links to the source package, sigs, hashes and KEYS file.
>>
>> Yes, there are source packages for some Maven plugins, but that is not
>> the same as providing download pages.
>>
>> AFAIK every single other ASF project has download pages.
>
>
> As a PMC member, I welcome scrutiny that we are following the
> designated procedures.
>
> Apologies for the length, I had to do some digging around to actually
> remind myself of what we are meant to do.
>
> According to http://www.apache.org/dev/release.html
>
> http://www.apache.org/dev/release.html#where-do-releases-go
>
> "Where do releases go?
>
> A release isn't 'released' until the contents are in the project's
> distribution directory, which is a subdirectory of
> www.apache.org/dist/. In addition to the distribution directory,
> project that use Maven or a related build tool sometimes place their
> releases on repository.apache.org beside some convenience binaries.
> The distribution directory is required, while the repository system is
> an optional convenience."
>
> And http://www.apache.org/dev/release.html#what-must-every-release-contain
>
> "What Must Every ASF Release Contain?
>
> Every ASF release must contain a source package, which must be
> sufficient for a user to build and test the release provided they have
> access to the appropriate platform and tools. The source package must
> be cryptographically signed by the Release Manager with a detached
> signature; and that package together with its signature must be tested
> prior to voting +1 for release. Folks who vote +1 for release may
> offer their own cryptographic signature to be concatenated with the
> detached signature file (at the Release Manager's discretion) prior to
> release.
>
> Note that the PMC is responsible for all artifacts in their
> distribution directory, which is a subdirectory of
> www.apache.org/dist/ ; and all artifacts placed in their directory
> must be signed by a committer, preferably by a PMC member. It is also
> necessary for the PMC to ensure that the source package is sufficient
> to build any binary artifacts associated with the release.
>
> Every ASF release must comply with ASF licensing policy. This
> requirement is of utmost importance and an audit should be performed
> before any full release is created. In particular, every artifact
> distributed must contain only appropriately licensed code. More
> information can be found in the foundation website and in the release
> licensing FAQ."
>
> And http://www.apache.org/dev/release.html#release-announcements
>
> "How Should Releases Be Announced?
>
> Please ensure that you wait at least 24 hours after uploading a new
> release before updating the project download page and sending the
> announcement email(s). This is so that mirrors have sufficient time to
> catch up. (For time-critical security releases, the download pages
> script supports bypassing this requirement.)"
>
> As far as I can tell there is no official policy requiring projects to
> provide a download page.
> It is just a convenience to end users to give them a direct download link.
> The ASF documentation clearly defines where distributions must be placed.
> Since you want people to use your project it makes sense to create a
> download page to make it easy for them.
>
> For Maven itself there are clearly defined download links from the
> main entry point http://maven.apache.org.
>
> For plugins I dont think it makes any sense to provide direct download
> links to sources.
> I checked http://www.apache.org/dev/release.html#maven-artifacts,
> which links to http://www.apache.org/dev/publishing-maven-artifacts.html
> doesn't provide any more guidance here either.
>
> So why doesn't it make sense to provide direct download links?
> Because it is Maven that is the consumer of artifacts rather than the end 
> users.
> And an end user is not likely to be building a plugin from source and
> then installing it into their local Maven cache, it is much easier to
> get Maven to download the binaries and use them that way.
>
> The only reason I can think of a user wanting access to the source is
> so they can make modifications, and if they dont know about the ASF
> distribution pages, we give them the source repository link, e.g.
> http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/source-repository.html,
> on the automatically generated web pages. To me this is better as they
> can then create patches.
>
> Does that make sense?

The point is that the ASF release source, and it must be provided for
download via the ASF mirrors.

See:

http://www.apache.org/dev/release.html#host-GA

If you don't point users to the source, I don't see how you can claim
it has been properly released.

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