proposal: contributed widget standards

["Shawn T . Amundson" <amundson gimp org>]

I would like to start putting contrib widgets in a standard 
location on the ftp site, and in order to do that cleanly we need 
some standards for these widgets so they are usable by people who 
download them.  Below is a first draft of the standards.  If you think 
something should be changed or clarified, please comment.

Right now GtkGLArea is the only widget listed in the widget repository 
(http://hegra1.mppmu.mpg.de:8000/~gonzalez/gtk/gtk.html) which currently
conforms to this standard.

-Shawn

GTK+ Contributed Widget Standards
---------------------------------

Upload and Distribution Location

    Contributed widgets can up uploaded to ftp://ftp.gtk.org/incoming/.  They
    will be moved into ftp://ftp.gtk.org/pub/gtk/v?.?/contrib/widgets/.

    The widget will be placed determined by the newest version of GTK+ it
    works with.  If it works with older versions, a link will be made so
    it shows up in multiple locations.

    A README must be uploaded as well.

    Both the tar.gz and the README must follow the naming conventions below.

tar.gz File Naming Convention

    The tar.gz file should have a name such as:

    <widgetname>-x.x.x.tar.gz

    or

    <widgetname>-x.x.tar.gz

    Where widgetname is the name of the widget in all small case and
    x.x.x or x.x is the version number. (major.minor.micro or major.minor)

    Thus, the widget GtkLCD version 0.0.2 would have the following
    name:

    gtklcd-0.0.2.tar.gz

    See Packaging Conventions below for how this tar.gz file should
    be put together.

README Conventions

    The uploaded README file should be of the following format:

    <widgetname>.README

    Where widgetname is the name of the widget in all small case.

    Thus, the widget GtkLCD has the README with the following name:

    gtklcd.README

    The README should contain, as a minimum:

    Author's full name.
    Author's e-mail address
    Versions of GTK+ this widget works with
    Description of the Widget

    This README should also be placed in the distribution.

Optional NEWS File

    A news file may be uploaded, but is not necessary.  Look in the GTK+
    distribution, file NEWS, for a suggested format.  The NEWS file
    should have the following nameing convention:

    <widgetname>.NEWS

    Where widgetname is the name of the widget in all small case.

    Thus, the widget GtkLCD has the NEWS with the following name:

    gtklcd.NEWS

Packaging Conventions

    The package must untar to the directory <widgetname>-x.x.x, or
    <widgetname>-x.x where widgetname is the widgetname in small case
    and x.x.x or x.x is the version.  These must be the same as the tar
    file name.

    The Makefile must be portable.  It should have a Makefile like are
    included in the GTK+ as examples/*/Makefile.  No hard coded paths
    can be used in the Makefile.  No additional CFLAGS which may be
    compiler specific should be used.  Autoconf can be used.

    The distribution must contain AUTHORS, README, and COPYING files which
    include the appropriate information.  (COPYING is the license, and can
    be renamed if appropriate.)

    If 'make' is typed with no arguments the widget and any test programs
    should build.  Nothing destructive should occur, and nothing should be
    installed by default.  This doesn't apply when using autoconf, as
    the standards there are much more strict.

    Any additional appropriate files can, of course, be included.

--
Shawn T. Amundson               
amundson@gimp.org               http://www.gimp.org/~amundson

"The assumption that the universe looks the same in every
 direction is clearly not true in reality." - Stephen Hawking