Re: [savannah-help-public] Issues with the current hosting request protocol

[Karl Berry]

Hi John - thanks for taking the time to write.  

I understand how the policy seems dumb, but it's easy to comply with:
it's sufficient to have one source file with the right license notice.
The submitted tarball doesn't have to have actually compile, let alone
run or do anything useful.  You also don't have to check it in as your
initial files in the VC.

The point is to ensure that the submitter actually knows how to put the
right notice in a nontrivial source file.  You might be surprised at how
often this fails to be the case.

As for future changes -- sure, the tarball at time of submission proves
nothing about future code.  That would be true no matter what is
submitted.  But by submission+approval, there is an agreement to abide
by the rules (we certainly don't go around policing this).  Thus it is
good to have at least some evidence that can be done.

There is another, entirely different, reason for wanting *something*
nontrivial to be submitted - handling every request takes time.  If we
didn't require something, it would be all too easy for people to submit
their project ideas because they hope to fill it in later, but it never
actually happens.  Time taken for us, zero benefit to the free software
world.

Hope this seems reasonable.  Feel free to resubmit your request if you
wish ...

Best,
Karl