On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Daniel Bartholomew <dbart@askmonty.org> wrote:
Henrik> While at it, I'd like to review the Readme file of MariaDB. Henrik> Could you help me with that (ie extract it from bzr and work Henrik> with me to rewrite it - so that I can just participate by Henrik> email).
The lp:~maria-captains/maria/maria-5.1-merge README contains the entire text of the lp:maria README plus a bunch of other stuff, including notices for various pieces of included software and the licenses those pieces of code use. Most of these notices are fairly short, but some are quite long (in the case of innochecksum.c, the entire text of the GPLv2 is included). I don't know if all of these notices are needed.
It seems they are needed for legal reasons (that's why MySQL keeps them here too). We should keep them, but there can be some whitespace between the "real text" and the when licenses start.
If there are any of these notices which can be removed, it would simplify the README. In the case of innochecksum.c in particular, if that notice is needed I think it would be better if we just point people to the COPYING file, which contains the GPLv2 text instead of putting a complete copy of GPLv2 in the README file.
Seems unnecessary yes, if it's GPL it's GPL. Maybe at this point it makes sense to keep the licenses identical to how they are in MySQL though. (The list is long even if removing GPL.)
To get things started, I've attached the two README files (named so you know which branch they come from). The additions are pretty easy to spot by just viewing the files side-by-side, even easier with a graphical diff viewer like meld.
Thanks. I've attached an edited version here. I've also attached a diff which should make clear what changes I made. The key changes is to write about MariaDB more as an independent product, not "a branch of MySQL", while still being a drop-in replacement. Other than that added links to MariaDB material and removed links to mysql.com. Monty, could you review.
Henrik> The Readme file we should fix before GA release. The other docs Henrik> are only semi-urgent.
Agree.
henrik -- email: henrik.ingo@avoinelama.fi tel: +358-40-5697354 www: www.avoinelama.fi/~hingo book: www.openlife.cc