On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 8:58 PM, Marvin Humphrey <mar...@rectangular.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 8:35 PM, Luke Han <luke...@gmail.com> wrote: > > There's one discussion in Kylin community about to add binary > > package in release, people are really would like to have one: > > > http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/incubator-kylin-dev/201508.mbox/%3CCAKmQrOZ_MFUyF_y7HXE7iVMCfJHuuOFuU4T8ibsPWfnw0z2Opw%40mail.gmail.com%3E > > > > For some reason, people (especially in China) is not easy > > to build from source, since there are many library hosted on > > some services which can't be access directly. > > > > Beyond that, the first impression of a project is how to setup > > correctly and successfully, it not make sense to have everyone to > > build from source. And the reality is many projects already DO binary > > package for convenience purpose. > > > > After read so long mail thread here, I have a little bit confusion:-( > > there are too many messages...should we have some clear > > guide or practices for such binary release ? > > Apache produces open source software, and official Apache releases consist > of > source code. Alongside such official releases, projects may offer binary > packages supplied by volunteers which meet certain criteria: > http://www.apache.org/dev/release#what > In some cases, binary/bytecode packages are also produced as a > convenience > to users that might not have the appropriate tools to build a compiled > version of the source. In all such cases, the binary/bytecode package > must > have the same version number as the source release and may only add > binary/bytecode files that are the result of compiling that version of > the > source code release. > > I've always wondered about the "official Apache releases consist of source code". So what if a project (members) does not vote but unofficially releases binary executable packages, perhaps along with source to some other location than /dist/? Clearly, it's not an official release by Apache policy but there the bits are in the wild anyway. I'm asking since at least for many of the Java/Maven based projects it's very easy and inexpensive to distribute software through Maven Central. NPM also happily uses Github as their central repository so you could technically make lots and lots of "convenience artifacts" available without ever officially releasing anything. Kalle
