[Merge] lp:~kirkland/ubuntu-dev-tools/612267 into lp:ubuntu-dev-tools

[Dustin Kirkland]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 6:57 AM, Lucas Nussbaum
<lucas at lucas-nussbaum.net> wrote:
> On 11/08/10 at 12:41 -0400, James Westby wrote:
>> On Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:32:34 -0400, Dustin Kirkland <kirkland at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> > We have some initiatives right now, trying to make it easier for
>> > people to get new applications into Ubuntu, and the Ubuntu Software
>> > Center.  This is merely a 10-line, GPL'd shell script, and most
>> > developers agree on its usefulness.  But the experience of giving this
>> > code away for the benefit of others is less than ideal.  I'm happy to
>> > persevere, push it to the right place, do the right thing.  But will
>> > the next aspiring developer who wants to share a small, useful hack
>> > bother themselves with the process?
>>
>> Maybe as an Ubuntu core-dev you want to upload a useful-hacks package
>> and accept all contributions in this vein in to that?
>
> Isn't that what moreutils already is?

Unclear.

I have emailed Joey and offered the script to his moreutils project.
Before proposing this script for ubuntu-dev-tools, I looked at the
moreutils webpage:
 * http://joey.kitenet.net/code/moreutils/

He has a list of 6 "rejected" tools, and a list of 6 tools still
"under consideration".  Looking at the pattern, it appears to me that
Joey wants moreutils to focus on programs that work on STDIN and with
pipes.  errno is neither of those.

For this reason, I agree with James' suggestion of a "useful-hacks"
package.  I would really like to see us have a place for all things
useful that can get rejected from the usual suspects (coreutils,
moreutils, base-files, devscripts, etc. etc. etc.).  Somewhere that
any MOTU can contribute any utility from their $HOME/bin or
$HOME/.bash_aliases which may be useful to others, but doesn't need to
be its own package/project.

Before this discussion, I *thought* that place was ubuntu-dev-tools,
but it's clear that some people don't want the package to be that.

So, yeah, I think "useful-hacks" would be a package I'd install on my
systems, and I'd enjoy collaborating with other MOTU on it.  Not a
negatively connotated "dumping ground", but a feel-good "recycling
facility" :-)  Or, have you ever been to a Sharper Image or Brookstone
store?  They sells some innovative, smart gadgets, cutting edge stuff
that just doesn't make the cut for BestBuy, Fry's, or RadioShack.  If
we don't already have a Sharper Image in the Ubuntu Mall, then I think
James is right -- some people would shop at one.

:-Dustin