[csw-users] How can I get blastwave's package sources?

[Dennis Clarke]

> True, but for people who are paranoid they will rebuild all of blastwave
> on a machine that they control and know how work. But anyway, this is
> not my case here, I just want to be able to rebuild the packages.

  I think that is perfectly reasonable.

  It would be very nice if one could drag down the svn tree and then build
from the sources to get a perfect reproduction of the binaries. Sort of like
the Debian Linux project.

>> Each maintainer is free to build its package the way he wants, the svn
>> gar system is just one way.
>
> That is kinda annoying, I would think that having a single,
> authoritative builder which build from SVN and using the (signed) source
> tarballs from blastwave.org would be useful as it should ensure that the
> binaries are re-producible. Each time a package is released it should be
> tagged so I can go back in time and re-produce a binary with my patch.

  I agree. At some point in the near future I will look into a project plan
to implement this sort of functionality across the board. It would make
the software service even more appealing to those that are very security
conscious.

    Having said that, and we agree that improvements may be done, please
allow me to point out the README file that comes with the Solaris
Companion CD from Sun.  It is woirth reading becuase we at Blastwave
offer you the same sort of statements in terms of reliability and ease
of use :

----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Solaris(tm) Software Companion                      November, 2006

The Solaris(tm) Software Companion is a collection of useful and
popular software for use in conjunction with the Solaris 10 Operating
Environment on both the SPARC and Intel architectures.  This software
consists of many public domain or freely available programs including
utilities, productivity and development tools and much more.

The software on this DVD is offered to you for free as a convenience
as it may complement your Solaris Operating Environment.  No warranty
is made on any of this software;  please read the accompanying
Legal Notice for details.

Support and assistance with this software is not provided by Sun
Microsystems, Inc. You may freely copy the contents of this DVD.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

    There are 120 software titles on that CD image and you get no support at
all.  Also "No warranty is made on any of this software" and you can
rest assured that you never get any warranty on software anymore unless
you purchase a support contract along with a legel agreement which
states the terms of the business relationship.  A support contract does
not necessarily imply any warranty on functionality either; you may
simply be buying access to a place to call in order to get help with
installation or configuration.

    Let us now take a look at the Legal Notice that comes with the Companion
CD from Sun. I use this as comparison only.  It is worthwhile to look at
this document in order to understand the nature of the relationship that
you, the end user, has with Blastwave.org, Sun, or any other vendor for
the purposes of access to, usage of, support with or communication about
open source software freely provided to you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

   Legal_Notice

 *Note: Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun) does NOT SUPPORT and has not
 performed compatibility testing with the freeware products contained
 on this DVD, namely the freeware found on the Solaris 10 Software
 Companion.*

 *Sun did not develop any of the freeware products ("Products")
 contained on the Solaris 10 Software Companion and has no ownership
 interest in them. Sun is making the Products available for free and as
 a convenience to our customers.*

 *The Products are provided "AS IS." They may not function properly or
 at all, may not be compatible with Solaris, may contain viruses and/or
 may disrupt, damage or interfere with your use of your programs,
 computers or telecommunications facilities. Sun provides no indemnity
 whatsoever for these freeware products nonwithstanding any other
 agreement you may have with Sun. Sun makes no warranties of any kind
 whatsoever with respect to the Products. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
 CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF
 NON- INFRINGEMENT OR IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS
 FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE
 EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW.*

 *IN NO EVENT WILL SUN BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT OR DATA,
 OR FOR SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
 PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF
 LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PRODUCTS,
 EVEN IF SUN HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.*

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

    I want you to pay careful attention to the words "may not function
properly or at all" as well as "no indemnity whatsoever".  Those are
very critical words for you to take note of.

    The Blastwave.org project as well as any commercial or corporate entity
that owns the infrastructure, provides the hosting or facilitates this
community project also extends no indemnity whatsoever to you the end
user.  Please see the homepage at http://www.blastwave.org and note the
link on the left that says "Legal Notice".  You will find it to be
substantially similar in expression to the Companion CD waiver above. 
There is no promise of functionality nor a promise of compatibility with
other software products that you may already have installed or even
compatibility within the Blastwave.org software stack.   You do have
access to support of some form via the users maillist (
users at lists.blastwave.org ) and you may even join the project and work
with other community members.  There are constraints on membership and
verification steps do need to be taken.

    All in all you are in good hands here.

    The intent of this project has been, and continues to be, to provide
freely available software pre-packaged in an easy to use fashion. We all
agree that this is not a perfect scenario. Improvements are being made
continually.  We currently have build servers for all Solaris 8, Solaris
10 and Solaris Nevada on x86, AMD Opteron, UltraSparc II, UltraSparc III
and UltraSparc Niagara technology.

    If you feel that a significant change needs to be made in the policies
and procedures of this project then please feel free to submit such
items here on the users maillist or to me directly at
dclarke at blastwave.org.  I do want to thank you for your interest in this
matter and I want you to know that we strive to be the best at open
source software for Solaris users.  This is a free community project
built by the community and for the community and we stand by our belief
in the value of open source software.

Dennis Clarke
Director and Founder
Blastwave.org