4 ms·

It would be good for KDE to get stronger backing, but I've heard RedHat avoids backing KDE and focuses on Gnome, due to aversion¹ to contributor agreements², is

by shmerl 7y ago

It would be good for KDE to get stronger backing, but I've heard RedHat avoids backing KDE and focuses on Gnome, due to aversion¹ to contributor agreements², is that correct in that case? 1. https://opensource.com/article/19/2/cla-problems https://opensource.com/article/19/2/cla-problems 2. https://www.qt.io/legal-contribution-agreement-qt https://www.qt.io/legal-contribution-agreement-qt

ognarb 7y ago
At KDE, we don't require signing CLA to contribute, this is a requirement in our manifesto[1]. But contributor can assign their right to the KDE e.V. if they want using a Fiduciary Licensing Agreement[2]. [1]: https://manifesto.kde.org/commitments.html https://manifesto.kde.org/commitments.html [2]: https://ev.kde.org/rules/fla.php https://ev.kde.org/rules/fla.php
- shmerl 7y ago
  KDE itself no, but Qt requires one (second link above)? Ironically, RedHat themselves sometimes make an exception, like the first link mentions: > We reluctantly sign tolerable upstream project CLAs out of practical necessity.
pjmlp 7y ago
It all goes back to the early days of Gtk vs KDE, when Qt still had non-GPL compatible license. Red-Hat is the biggest employer of Gtk/GNOME devs, so... SuSE and Mandrake were historical the biggest ones that cared about KDE.
- lmm 7y ago
  Right, but surely it's time to reconsider that. Qt has "caught up" on licensing, whereas to my eyes at least Gtk is still behind in terms of developer usability.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Agreed.
KozmoNau7 7y ago
I recommend the KDE neon distro to every Linux-curious person I meet. It's the latest and greatest KDE on top of an Ubuntu base, and it's by far the best desktop distro I have tried in my ~20 years of using Linux on the desktop.
- shmerl 7y ago
  I use KDE in Debian testing for a long time already. Easily the best DE around. Though I wish Debian would get faster updates. Even though testing is supposed to be rolling (besides freezes), something seriously stalls new Plasma uploads there.
  - zozbot234 7y ago
    Typically, "slower" updates in Debian testing are due to the fact that the new package version has known breakage that makes it unsuitable for release, or requires dependencies to be updated and this in turn breaks existing packages (either the build, or the package itself). These situations have to be managed via a "transitions" mechanism. When in doubt, there is a tracker at https://qa.debian.org/excuses.php https://qa.debian.org/excuses.php that reports on why a newer version of the package has yet to enter the testing channel.
    - shmerl 7y ago
      Usually, but it's not the case here. In the case you described, you'll see the new upload in unstable, that didn't get to testing yet. In this case, it's simply not there at all: https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/plasma-desktop https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/plasma-desktop So I wonder if there is some kind of other blocker.
      - zozbot234 7y ago
        Looks like it's being kept out of unstable until other transitions are complete. E.g. see https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919218 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919218

by shmerl 7y ago

ognarb 7y ago

At KDE, we don't require signing CLA to contribute, this is a requirement in our manifesto[1]. But contributor can assign their right to the KDE e.V. if they want using a Fiduciary Licensing Agreement[2]. [1]: https://manifesto.kde.org/commitments.html https://manifesto.kde.org/commitments.html [2]: https://ev.kde.org/rules/fla.php https://ev.kde.org/rules/fla.php

shmerl 7y ago
KDE itself no, but Qt requires one (second link above)? Ironically, RedHat themselves sometimes make an exception, like the first link mentions: > We reluctantly sign tolerable upstream project CLAs out of practical necessity.

pjmlp 7y ago

It all goes back to the early days of Gtk vs KDE, when Qt still had non-GPL compatible license. Red-Hat is the biggest employer of Gtk/GNOME devs, so... SuSE and Mandrake were historical the biggest ones that cared about KDE.

lmm 7y ago
Right, but surely it's time to reconsider that. Qt has "caught up" on licensing, whereas to my eyes at least Gtk is still behind in terms of developer usability.
- pjmlp 7y ago
  Agreed.

KozmoNau7 7y ago

I recommend the KDE neon distro to every Linux-curious person I meet. It's the latest and greatest KDE on top of an Ubuntu base, and it's by far the best desktop distro I have tried in my ~20 years of using Linux on the desktop.

shmerl 7y ago
I use KDE in Debian testing for a long time already. Easily the best DE around. Though I wish Debian would get faster updates. Even though testing is supposed to be rolling (besides freezes), something seriously stalls new Plasma uploads there.
- zozbot234 7y ago
  Typically, "slower" updates in Debian testing are due to the fact that the new package version has known breakage that makes it unsuitable for release, or requires dependencies to be updated and this in turn breaks existing packages (either the build, or the package itself). These situations have to be managed via a "transitions" mechanism. When in doubt, there is a tracker at https://qa.debian.org/excuses.php https://qa.debian.org/excuses.php that reports on why a newer version of the package has yet to enter the testing channel.
  - shmerl 7y ago
    Usually, but it's not the case here. In the case you described, you'll see the new upload in unstable, that didn't get to testing yet. In this case, it's simply not there at all: https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/plasma-desktop https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/plasma-desktop So I wonder if there is some kind of other blocker.
    - zozbot234 7y ago
      Looks like it's being kept out of unstable until other transitions are complete. E.g. see https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919218 https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=919218