Active Backlog

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⚠ Info

See our infrastructure plan. Please report confidential or urgent issues to bug-directory@gnu.org.


⚠ Info

After our new tracker's issues are solved, issues will be merged to it by their priority.

Append the new bugs you find in the FSD to this page.
Remember to follow the participation guide and sign your contribution. Thank you!

The bugs are archived after at least one week from their resolution or if the bug cannot be identified due to lack of information.


Contents

Uncategorized

Add GNU promoted text to GNU entries automatically


Stalled by:

This text is included in all GNU entries: 

'''Selection from the [https://shop.fsf.org/ FSF shop]'''

[https://shop.fsf.org/books/free-freedom-20-richard-stallman Free as in Freedom 2.0, by Richard Stallman]

[https://shop.fsf.org/books-docs/introduction-command-line Introduction to the Command Line]

----
----
'''[https://www.gnu.org/help/help.html Helping the GNU Project and the Free Software Movement]'''
----
----

If you have corrections to this entry or questions about it, please contact: mailto:maintainers@gnu.org
----

I think we should:

  1. Remove the above text from all entries listed in GNU
  2. Place the above text in a template, say Template:GNU_promotions
  3. Convert this texted idea to SMW code: if "Is GNU=Yes" then use Template:GNU_promotions"
  4. Add the code to https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Template:Show or some other link found at https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Backlog_Admin_Group#How_to_modify_the_form_edit
1. Is now solved (sysadmin: please execute runjobs.php when appropriate to apply the substitutions and allow for further development of this Backlog Task). --LorenzoAncora (talk) 14:07, 4 December 2020 (EST)
2. Is now solved (see Template:GNU_promotions). --LorenzoAncora (talk) 13:08, 4 December 2020 (EST)
3. Stalled by pt. 1.


SPDX-related issues


Stalled by:

See the SPDX License List for license identifiers.

Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) is a file format used to document information on the software licenses under which a given piece of computer software is distributed. The FSF has decided that we are going to switch to the SPDX identifiers (eg switch from MPL1.1 to MPL-1.1).

Related links:


1520


Is there a way for us to HTTP ping those without using JavaScript?
I think we'll need to add a dedicated script. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 15:26, 24 April 2020 (EDT)


Replace License text in program entries


See Free_Software_Directory:SPDX_Group for text to replace

Avoid https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:ReplaceText

  1. https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:ReplaceText is limited to 250 pages per execution. That means to much job, "License:GPLv2orlater" is used in 4460 pages to give a picture.
  2. to slow, 10 pages modified in 3 minutes (https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:RecentChanges monitored), or 250 pages in 90 minutes.
Original text:
|License=GPLv3orlater
Replacement text:
|License=GPL-3.0-or-later

Search in namespaces:Main
Replace only in category: Entry

Do not use regex like this, it will add "^|License=GPLv3orlater$" at the very beginning of the page: 

Original text:
^|License=GPLv3orlater$
Replacement text:
|License=GPL-3.0-or-later

Use regular expressions
Search in namespaces:Main
Replace only in category: Entry


453654


Stalled by:

Proposed features for the FSD


665349


Category browsing


494394


Add a link for binary download?


348594


Need to implement mass-emails about email verification, and directions for changing preferences.


905235


Add/update GNU packages


593493


Put a link to site dumps and info about the machine readability of that information on the main page.

David, clarification is required. Please specify the position of the site dumps. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 13:11, 14 June 2019 (EDT)


345653


Pages incorrectly created with Form:Bug_update (without the "Review:" namespace prefix) are queryable. If they are then moved to the Review: namespace, then they remain queryable. I'm not sure if a non-admin can edit the page, which could let them create a false entry in the directory.


453224


Add "table of contents" header above tabs inside noscript tags so that it only displays when javascript is turned off.


234ed3


We need to let people submit bug reports, etc. without javascript enabled. If we could use something like a "noscript" tag, then we could display the following link: active&namespace=Review Example bug report link


432490


'new messages' text overlays the red FSF links bar, so you can't click it. Still, you can just click your 'talk' page link instead.


23431f


"New Packages RSS feed"'s license verification dates are messed up.


d34234


Conditional statements should be created for various properties (e.g., "Audio:mp3" should result in "works-with::Audio" being set on a page automatically).


451154


Implement an in-browser irc client that displays only when meetings are live on the Main Page in addition to the "The meeting is active right now!" (see Template:IRC_text).

That will require a free SaaSS (like https://webchat.freenode.net/) but we don't recommend third-party SaaSS in general, however I think this would be ok if the FSF should embed a web-based IRC widget into something like irc://webchat.fsf.org/fsf (for the Directory) and irc://webchat.fsf.org/libreplanet (for Libre Planet). However, the listed web-based IRC clients are not compatible with LibreJS, that must be fixed first. The authors of these programs accept patches, perhaps the FSF can evaluate which client the want to use and patch it? Related: IceCat, Free web-based IRC client replacement for Mibbit needed. --David Hedlund (talk) 02:22, 31 March 2018 (EDT)


453654


Create a new standard template to list the translations of each page in a professional way. --LorenzoAncora (talk)

On second thought we should use a dedicated module, so we can enlist the translations on the left user bar. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 15:01, 15 May 2020 (EDT)


set empty default values


This is a Semantic MediaWiki issue.

I find that most of my problems concerning empty or missing properties in a template are helped by setting default template values. You might need to poke runJobs.php. Then you can query on the default value. So you might have Template:Software looking like:

Software license: None

Then you can pick out the pages with undeclared software license by ask'ing on None to get the ones that aren't declared.


homepage should not be required


The "Homepage" field should not mandatory to fill in entries. For Icedove doesn't have any homepage and it shouldn't be set to the Thunderbird homepage because it's not free due to trade mark issues.

non-official compiled or non-source releases


Should we add to FSD:Requirements that we only permit data related to official releases? For example, the current Windows download link for IceCat is unofficial, but it's made by jenslody@fedoraproject.org

(20:43:02) David_Hedlund: But it's still a unofficial release. I think we should discuss this policy.

Randomize Approved revisions page

Or at least offer such option, because current aplhabetical sort will lead to projects named AAAA something getting frequent updates and projects called ZZZ never getting updated. Perhaps sort by age would make sense too. --Mviinama (talk) 12:24, 31 August 2021 (EDT)

Project pages

A way to have a single project page which has multiple programs (thus entries) under it. Example: The project page would not have a version download field. The need for this comes up quite a bit, but https://github.com/OpenDroneMap was the project that inspired this entry ~craigt

Import

import GNU packages


Make a script to generate XML files that syncs GNU with https://www.gnu.org/software/ which also list decommissioned GNU packages, a property that also should be imported, see https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Property:Decommissioned/Obsolete

See https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/User_talk:Bendikker/cleanlinksgnusoftware (deleted, I asked why: User_talk:Bendikker#cleanlinksgnusoftware) for other examples.


import screenshots


https://screenshots.debian.net/

It's not possible to download the archive right now.

" The current version features a large JSON blog that gives you information about all packages and the related screenshots. You could load the screenshots directly from directory.fsf.org if you like. That's what several other websites like packages.debian.org do. The only challenge you would face might be to match the "upstream" package name to the software name you use in your database." -- Christoph Haas, the Debian Screenshots maintainer


import icons


The https://screenshots.debian.net/ maintainer said that he will add icons for Debian packages (provided by https://wiki.debian.org/AppStream) in the bug tracker: https://salsa.debian.org/debian/debshots/boards.


Software icons

Make it possible to upload software icons in the edit form. Display the icons next to the title in the entries. I asked https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/User_talk:Vibhuti to do this (and to write down a howto in https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Backlog_Admin_Group#How_to_add_file_upload_to_form_edit) since she made it possible to upload screenshots in the edit form recently. --David Hedlund (talk) 15:16, 20 April 2018 (EDT)

import other repo data

FSWDB

LorenzoAncora's (former Backlog Admin Group member) FSWDB. By the way, he's having a plan to sync the Directory to his site too.

Software specific

Emacs

Package repositories for GNU Emacs

wikidata


Take data from wikidata.org that's not in Debian's main repository.


XML update


Please study these XML outputs in IceCat

It's time to export the old add-on list https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:IceCat_extensions_(proposed)/ from the FSD, then import the new list with 600̈́+ add-ons, then merge the extra field from the backup to it.

My example (look for differences) when I want to import 600 add-ons:
{{Entry
|Name=NoScript
|Short description=Only enable JavaScript for sites you trust.
|Full description=The '''NoScript''' (aka '''NoScript Security Suite''') Firefox extension provides extra protection for Firefox, Seamonkey and other Mozilla-based browsers.  Its aim is to allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Click-jacking attacks.  It is also useful to prevent Flash running on the browser.

But its main advantage could be the alerts given on its interface. There is an increasing number of Web sites that cannot run without non-free JavaScript programs downloaded and executed on the visitor's computer. Richard Stallman first raised this another concern with his article [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html The JavaScript Trap], pointing out that most JavaScript programs are not freely licensed, and that even free software Web browsers are usually configured to download and run these non-free programs without informing the user.  So maybe NoScript could encourage people to keep informed about this related issue and [https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/freejs take action].

Anyway, NoScript is an extremely valuable Firefox extension for security. Its unique white-list based pre-emptive script blocking approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known and even not known yet!) with no loss of functionality...
|Homepage URL=https://noscript.net/
|User level=intermediate
|Extension of=IceCat
|Documentation note=Install NoScript and enable ‘Forbid scripts globally’ to improve the security of your browser by preventing 0day JavaScript attacks. This is a drastic option as it will render many websites unusable as they rely heavily on JavaScript. NoScript offers a whitelist you can use to selectively enable JavaScript for sites you trust, but this is considered [https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#TBBCanIBlockJS especially bad for your anonymity] if you're using NoScript with Tor.
|Related projects=GNU LibreJS, NoScript Anywhere
|Version identifier=2.6.9.25.1-signed
|Version date=2015/05/23
|Version status=stable
|Version download=https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/file/318124/noscript_security_suite-2.6.9.25-sm+fn+fx.xpi
|Last review by=David Hedlund
|Last review date=2016/04/21
|Status=
|Is GNU=No
}}
{{Project license
|License=GPLv2
|License verified by=enyst
|License verified date=2013/03/24
}}
{{Resource
|Resource audience=Users
|Resource kind=Forum
|Resource URL=https://forums.informaction.com/viewforum.php?f=3
}}
{{Software category
|Internet-application=privacy
|Use=internet-application, security
}}
{{Featured}}


consistent CSS styling


Some custom templates have CSS style="" clauses scattered in them. One of such clauses was responsible for too narrow columns in the description. I'd suggest to:

  1. Check all local style clauses in our custom code
  2. Determine if they can be more generic. For example, colors, paddings, line widths should be unified to achieve visual consistency.
  3. A set of CSS classes should be designed to replace style clauses
  4. CSS class naming scheme should be decided
  5. New CSS classes should be introduced to MediaWiki:Common.css
  6. style clauses should be replaced with their class="css-class" counterparts.


Backlog Admin Group

headertabs (absolute number 1 top priority)

The headertabs are used by software entries (random example: Emacs). The problem is that the tabs are not always displayed! It's complicated to break down software entries, instead the simple user page for Sudoman that is using headertabs can be used to reproduce the issue.

See: Extension talk:Header Tabs: Header Tabs sometime fails to load for more info. Potential solutions are at the end of the page.

I think we should try to solve this issue once and for all, with submitted and followed up bug reports. Because this even gives the admins of the Directory the impression that the site is unstable.

Main page (top priority)

This section and page is reserved because it represents the site. If it does not exist, it means that we are not working on it at the moment but will work on it at some point in the future.

Template:EntryGNU and Template:EntryDetails (top priority)

################################
Visible

https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Bayonne
{{Entry
|Is High Priority Project=Yes
|Is GNU=Yes
    
################################
Not visible

{{EntryGNU
|Is GNU=Yes

https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Emacs


{{EntryDetails
|Is High Priority Project=Yes

https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/H-client

--David Hedlund (talk) 17:59, 8 September 2021 (EDT)

Text browsers evaluation (top priority)

Top priority issue!

Move the text browers listed at https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection_talk:Text_mode_browsers,_and_IceCat_WebExtensions_for_text_editors to https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:Text_mode_browsers,_and_IceCat_WebExtensions_for_text_editors once the wiki doesn't require JS.

IRC bot (top priority)

Free Software Directory:IRC bot. Assigned to User:Noisytoot. --David Hedlund (talk) 15:46, 24 September 2021 (EDT)

edit with form has to be reloaded to work


Top priority issue!

Software entries have a "Edit with form" tab. Example, https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Gnuzilla&action=formedit

You have to reload the page in the browser to make the tabs visible (including the "Save" tab). Volunteers who doesn't know about will most likely not be able to update existing entries. --David Hedlund (talk) 08:50, 14 May 2020 (EDT)

A possible solution could involve defining a checkbox with opacity:0 (display:none doesn't work for this); make the tab title as a label for that checkbox; and style the tab content so that when the checkbox is checked, the contents show and all the rest disappears. --Adfeno (talk) 21:39, 1 May 2020 (EDT)
Please could you extend this issue by adding a link to a video/GIF which shows the steps to reproduce the bug in a popular web browser? --LorenzoAncora (talk) 08:29, 5 May 2020 (EDT)

i noticed this myself; and was quite confused by it - this is definitely a high-priority UX bug Bill-auger (talk) 12:29, 19 August 2022 (EDT)

display-a-Role-column


Top priority issue!

See Free Software Directory:Backlog Admin Group/Sandbox2

"Tried everything I could but can't make it combine team, role, IRC and time zone. There are two options:

a) Make Property:Member of team of type Record, and so allow it to hold a team+role a pair, but for that each user *must* use to *set* Property:Member of team *for each* team they are member of. This will have caveat that there will be *no known way* to get both the user's role and his time zone and IRC nick, since these two will be blank. This also has disadvantage that anyone could declare themselves as Team Captain and no notification would be sent regarding that.

b) Make Property:Member of team of type Page and so forget the roles and only refer to team pages. This allows queries to see both the users' time zone and IRC nick, besides being simple to set (because you can either use or TEAM PAGE. As a side note, the Team Captain would still have to declare his role in the teams' main page anyways, since this is the most important role. Besides, provided everyone involved has that page in their watchlist, then no one would dare autodeclare themselves as Team Captain.

I applied (b) for now since I think it's the best option. As a side note if we no longer will use Property:Team captain nor [[Property:Team member]], we should remove it." - Adonay, 2020-05-05 05:21


Group tables with mixed dynamic and static data

In Free Software Directory:Backlog Admin Group, and Free Software Directory:SPDX Group, the table should have static values for:

  • User
  • Role
  • Reference

However, columns with global data should be loaded dynamically from the user page (like we did before):

  • Time zone
  • libera.chat nick
  • Title

--David Hedlund (talk) 20:48, 8 September 2021 (EDT)

Exclude unapproved entries from High Priority Projects

Collection:High Priority Projects lists Unapproved entries like Komodo. --David Hedlund (talk) 22:35, 20 August 2021 (EDT)

Category/Works-with-format/pdf also lists unapproved entries, for example Ipfs on that page, if you show more entries (needs JS enabled). JacobK (talk) 09:21, 27 February 2023 (EST)

Module Countdown


We should ask the FSF if the tech team can install https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module:Countdown in MediaWiki
If they agree, then we must implement recurring events first in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Module:Countdown and then install it on the Directory. --David Hedlund (talk) 13:00, 14 February 2020 (EST)

I don't agree, the current implementation in wikicode works correctly and the compatibility of an unofficial module must be guaranteed manually from version to version. Furthermore, replacing the work already done would make all the time spent useless, with minimal advantages. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 13:58, 14 February 2020 (EST)
The issue was solved, so we can archive this Active Backlog Task. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 15:01, 15 May 2020 (EDT)


High Priority Projects Project Teams and Translations


Top priority issue!

The high priority pages consist of collections and categories that manually have been added to https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page like this: 

  <li>[[Collection:PRISM|PRISM]] (collection)</li>
  <li>[[Collection:Privacy pack|Privacy pack]] (collection)</li>
  <li>[[Category/Interface/accessibility|Interface: Accessibility]]</li>
  <li>[[Category/Internet-application/privacy|Internet-application: Privacy]]</li>
  <li>[[Category/Internet-application/security|Internet-application: Security]]</li>
  <li>[[Category/Live-communications|Live-communications]]</li>
  <li>[[Category/Protocol/tor|Protocol: Tor]]</li>
  <li>[[Category/Security|Security]]</li>


Templates to sort

Entries that are not sorted alphabetically that should be that:

--David Hedlund (talk) 08:53, 28 August 2021 (EDT)

n2io34d


Check the sandbox: I cannot get rid of the "Category/", and the coma, from the text in the links. The links should be formatted like they are displayed at https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Template:Category_table_divided. --David Hedlund (talk) 08:41, 29 March 2020 (EDT)

it234902


Stalled by:

[[Category:Italian_translations]] is not listed at Free Software Directory:Backlog Admin Group/Sandbox


pl329423


Special:PermanentLink/80634 has my attempt to fix most of these. I was unable to solve the case of Category:Translations subcategories not being listed. --Adfeno (talk) 22:06, 24 April 2020 (EDT)


form-entry-accessibility-BAG


Stalled by:

We won't abandon the existing table layout, however there is no reason for not making it adaptive, as HTML tables can be stylized like any other element and are still fully supported.
I believe we should add a CSS fix for small-screen/mobile devices. Feel free to propose (a tested) one during the next FSD meetings. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 08:29, 5 May 2020 (EDT)


form-entry-general-info-proposal-BAG


  1. Move "Dev languages" to Categories ("Programming-language").
  2. Remove "Related projects". Categories do this instead. One could also make a link to a separate query (no need to embed the query), with which the person could look for other projects which have similar properties or categories.
  3. Make "User level" a dropdown, since only one can be selected.
  4. Remove "Component programs" and make redirects named after each values inside these. If the entry A is also known as B and no other program has the same alias (B), then B should be a redirect to A.
  5. While "Checksum" suggests to paste the result of sum command, Property:Checksum is URL, and many packages use it to point to actual files where the result of sha256sum, sha512sum or md5sum are stored, and none of these are related to sum command.
  6. Move "Test entry" to the top. The idea is to advise users to use this more often when they are not confortable with their edits.

--Adfeno (talk) 21:39, 1 May 2020 (EDT)

I do not agree with pt. 1 to 4 but I agree with pt. 5 and 6, at the following conditions: sum should be replaced with SHA or MD5 and "Test Entry" should be smaller and placed in the top-right angle of the form and not keyboard selectable. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 08:29, 5 May 2020 (EDT)


form-entry-licenses-proposal-BAG


This does not seem the best solution, how about adding a clarification near the copyright widget? --LorenzoAncora (talk) 08:29, 5 May 2020 (EDT)


form-entry-resource-info-proposal-BAG


Also, change "Resource kind" so that:

  1. "Mailing List Subscribe" and "Mailing List Info/Archive" are merged with "Mailing List".
  2. Remove "VCS Repository Webview".
  3. Make "Bug Tracking", "Developer", "General", "Support" and all their "Subscribe" counter parts instances to "Mailing List" and add "Resource audience" corresponding to the first names I said (example: "Bug Tracking", "Support")
  4. Rename "Download" to "Object code download" or "Non-source download" or "Binary download".

--Adfeno (talk) 21:39, 1 May 2020 (EDT)

I agree only with pt. 1 and 4. We can do pt. 4 directly during the next meeting, but for pt. 1 we should take into account the DB. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 08:29, 5 May 2020 (EDT)


form-entry-categories-proposal-BAG


Generally, make each category a listbox. This makes the place less crowded. Also, we must avoid name conflicts, like "security" in "Internet-application" and "internet" in "Security". The proposed mapping would be like this (as page names):-excess HTML; +missing signature marks; -wrong page c

  • Goal-to-be-used-for
    • comparing
    • converting
    • editing
    • playing-or-viewing
  • Goal-to-enhance-development
    • Downcase all from "Version-control"
    • bug-tracking-system
    • debugging
    • game-development
    • manual-or-automated-build
    • small-specific-development-task
    • static-analysis
    • version-control
  • Goal-to-work-with-data-of-type
    • 2d
    • 3d
    • archive-or-backup
    • audio
    • barcode
    • color-profile
    • contact
    • date-or-time
    • dictionary
    • metadata
    • model-or-project
    • plot
    • raster-image
    • text
    • text-font
    • vector-image
    • video
  • Goal-to-work-with-database-or-query-language
    • blockchain
    • recutils
    • sparql
    • sql
    • xpath
  • Goal-to-work-with-multimedia-format
    • mp3
    • iso9660
    • ogg-vorbis
    • speex
    • flac
    • ogg-theora
    • opus
    • webm
    • flv
    • swf
  • Goal-to-work-with-structure-or-style-language
    • atom
    • css
    • csv-or-dsv
    • docbook
    • enriched-text
    • html
    • json
    • latex
    • markdown
    • mediawiki
    • opendocument
    • org-mode
    • pdf
    • portable-object
    • postscript
    • rdf
    • rich-text-format
    • rss
    • sgml
    • smil
    • svg
    • tex
    • texinfo
    • textile
    • webvtt
    • xml
    • xsl
    • yaml
  • Interface-through
    • bot
    • console
    • daemon-or-server
    • email
    • library
    • web
    • Downcase all from "UI-toolkit"
  • Other-goal
    • accessibility
    • accounting
    • animation-or-movie-making
    • architecture
    • astronomy
    • authentication
    • automated-theorem-proving
    • aviation
    • biology
    • chemistry
    • commerce
    • design
    • education
    • encryption
    • engineering
    • faxing
    • financial-mathematics
    • firewall
    • forensics
    • gaming-or-entertainment
    • genealogy
    • geography
    • geology
    • ham-radio
    • health-care
    • home-automation
    • layouting-or-typesetting
    • live-communcation
    • meteorology
    • model-or-quality-checking
    • monitoring
    • network-routing
    • news-aggregation-or-reading
    • payment-system
    • physics
    • psychology
    • productivity
    • project-management
    • publishing
    • scheduling
    • security
    • simulation
    • software-configuration
    • sports
    • statistics
    • stock-market
    • symbolic-mathematics
    • telephony
    • localization-or-translation
    • virtualization
  • Programming-language
    • Downcase all from the original
    • Move "c++" to "cpp" or "c-plus-plus"
    • lisp
    • r
  • Protocol
    • Downcase all from the original
    • tcp
  • Runs-on
    • Downcase all from the original

--Adfeno (talk) 21:39, 1 May 2020 (EDT)

This issue was already solved in your absence during the latest FSD meeting (May the 1st) by fixing the existing CSS to guarantee correct alignment and subdivision. For now it would not be wise to change the UX so much, but I suggest to keep your tip here for the future. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 08:29, 5 May 2020 (EDT)


other2377


Property:Resource URL is of type string/text, this allows any value, even phone numbers, SIP, XMPP, etc. Perhaps we should use something along the lines of "Allows pattern" special property in order to avoid abuses. Property:Resource URL is the one currently used in the entry form when someone fills the "resource URL".


frm5d33


To "Edit with form" (Example: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=IceCat&action=formedit&debug=true#tab=1__General_info):


autoedit


We can use the autoedit links for things like allow admins to do things like confirm that they have reviewed an entry or as a way for "voting-up" etc. Or any number of things. See autoedit section at bottom of Semantic Forms page.


proprietary program search


When a person searches for a proprietary program, a list of free software replacements for that program should appear in the search results, *however*, the proprietary program and its name should not appear anywhere on the wiki. To achieve this functionality, we may want to use the Enhanced Retrieval extension (obsolete).


License verification


Licenses and license notifications should preferably be verified by a license compliance software system (like FOSSology).

When doing license verification by hand, we need to ensure two things:

  1. More than one person checks a license;
  2. We have a system in place for training volunteers (via some sort of mentorship) on how to properly check a project's license.
I fully agree and I believe all should be bounded by well defined rules.
Having such systems and workflows in place is fundamental. If necessary, I am also willing to mentor during meetings. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 14:45, 31 January 2020 (EST)


Point system and mentoring


Some ideas we have discussed is that we might have some sort of scoring system, so that more experienced individuals who check a license have more "points" than people less experienced. Let's say we have three tiers: level-1, level-2, level-3; with level-1 being the most experienced. A check by a level-1 person might be worth 15 points, a level-2 might be worth 10 points, and a check by a level-3 person might be worth 5 points. It might be that a license is properly "checked" if it has a score of at least 25 points. To coordinate this work we might consider using an extension such as Semantic Tasks.

But, more important than the point system is ensuring that level-3 individuals are not only verified by level-1 individuals, but, that some 1-on-1 guidance and help/mentoring is provided to level-3 individuals from level-1 individuals.


Component programs and Prerequisite description serve the same purpose


Property:Component programs and Property:Prerequisite description serve the same purpose, that is to say, they describe dependencies.

This is a request for vote and also for comments or better proposals. --Adfeno (talk) 17:21, 23 April 2021 (EDT)


Make Component programs and Prerequisite description of type Page


Property:Component programs and Property:Prerequisite description should be of type Page, so that arbitrary text is not allowed.

Furthermore, they should allow only existing entries. As an additional feature, they could allow autocompletion.

I have implemented this proposal in a form, a template, and a property, which can be seen from this dummy entry and each value appears correctly in the property browser in the left navigation bar. The proposal has the disadvantage that it requires Select2 JavaScript to work (according to MediaWiki Page Forms extension documentation).

I tried using a "listbox" Page Forms input type, but that can be slow for the wiki to process, since all entries will be displayed at once.

This is a request for vote and also for comments or better proposals. --Adfeno (talk) 17:21, 23 April 2021 (EDT)

FSF

Some work, like modifying the source files of MediaWiki, cannot be done by MediaWiki users themselves. We gather such tasks here so the FSF staff can help us fix them.


Debian import

The Debian meta-data import script is broken: http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/directory.git/tree/export.py

  1. The import script must be fixed
  2. The Directory must be structured
  3. The import script should be run at continuous intervals, once per week, ideally a few hours before the Friday IRC meeting.

Internationalization and localization


Top priority issue!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory is available in these languages at this writing:

  • Español
  • Français
  • Italiano
  • Nederlands
  • 日本語
  • Русский
  • 中文

We need to enable internationalization and localization in our MediaWiki instance so volunteers easily can add new translated pages. For example Collection:IOS (4 languages) and Collection:Windows (3 languages) need the translation links in the sidebar.

This issue is blocking the translation team: without it, it is not possible to plan and assign translations, nor to prepare translators properly. This extension should be installed as soon as possible. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 04:17, 17 February 2021 (EST)

job-queue


Job queue length 

alias wikijobs='curl -s '\''https://directory2p.fsf.org/w/api.php?action=query&meta=siteinfo&siprop=statistics&format=json'\'' | jq -r .query.statistics.jobs'

Full rebuild of Semantic Mediawiki data took over 14 hours, after that there were 0 jobs in the queue 

437206 IDs refreshed.

Memory used: 180260544 (b: 13003608, a: 193264152) with a runtime of 53171.62 sec (886.19 min)


icecataddons


List incomplete IceCat add-ons. Free Software Directory:IceCat extensions (proposed)/FSD bugs issue 1

icecatun


List unapproved IceCat add-ons. We could reuse the source of https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special:ApprovedRevs&show=unapproved so we can tweak to show only unapproved IceCat add-ons.


Multiple software categories -temporarily fixed-


Not only are the text merged but also the URL in the link. For IceCat: <a href="/wiki?title=Category/Programming-language/C_C%2B%2B_javascript_rust&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Category/Programming-language/C C++ javascript rust (page does not exist)">Programming-language:C C++ javascript rust</a>

Log


Remove duplicated entries A


Duplication of entries in https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:ApprovedRevs. 1) https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special:ApprovedRevs&action=purge reads "Pages whose approved revision is not their latest" -- the text doesn't use the word "revisions". 2)The "(diff from latest)" links are identical for each entry instead of pointing to unique revisions.


262dup


The value of |Extension of= is displayed twice in some entries (one year ago perhaps 5 duplicated were displayed but John Sullivan and/or Joshua Gay managed to fix most of the duplicates either by himself or someone else). For example, "Add to Search Bar" appear twice there, but "Aardvark" appear only once.

The duplicates also affect lists that the entries are in, see this page for test purpose that I've set up: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/IceCat 

       > I contacted Joshua in March this year about this and he responded.

       > "I will look into this. I am not sure why the redirects are making it
       > show-up twice. It shouldn't. However fixing it is not a simple matter of
       > removing them -- it is a bug in the software."

    Please report the bug to sysadmin@gnu.org.

    --
    Dr Richard Stallman
    President, Free Software Foundation (gnu.org, fsf.org)
    Internet Hall-of-Famer (internethalloffame.org)
    Skype: No way! See stallman.org/skype.html.


Remove duplicated short description rs


sysadmin@gnu.org ticket: [gnu.org #1205033]

Short description now appear automatically on software entry pages.

We had to copy the short description into the full description before thus creating duplicated text. The job to do now is to remove those duplicates. I added this to the Backlog.


Faceted search


Make an advanced search page used to filter out entries based on their SMW data.

Examples of filters:

  • Is GNU
  • Accepts cryptocurrency donation
  • User level
  • Categories...
There is already a page for that, Special:Ask. Unless you provide more details and examples on how this request could be different from what is already there, I consider this a wontfix. --Adfeno (talk) 17:59, 18 December 2020 (EST)


wiki special pages


Broken pages in https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:SpecialPages :

Maintenance reports

  • Broken redirects
  • Dead-end pages
  • Double redirects
  • Oldest pages
  • Orphaned pages
  • Pages with the fewest revisions
  • Pages without language links
  • Protected titles -- doesn't work despite that Protected pages list pages
  • Uncategorized categories
  • Uncategorized files
  • Uncategorized pages
  • Uncategorized templates
  • Unused categories
  • Unused files
  • Unused templates
  • Unwatched pages
  • Wanted categories
  • Wanted files
  • Wanted pages
  • Wanted templates

Lists of pages

  • List of redirects

Media reports and uploads

  • List of files with duplicates
  • MIME search -- "This special page is disabled for performance reasons."
  • Media statistics

High use pages

  • Most linked-to files
  • Most linked-to pages
  • Most transcluded pages
  • Pages with the most categories
  • Pages with the most interwikis
  • Pages with the most revisions

Page tools


Extension Approved Revs


Some pages show up in https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special:ApprovedRevs&limit=500&offset=0&show=invalid. It's not possible to approve or unapprove the Collection namespace. I was told it could be solved by playing with $egApprovedRevsNamespaces in LocalSettings.php.

  • Approved pages (and their redirects) becomes unapproved when they are Moved.
  • On the entry pages, there is a bug where if a page has had at least one approval and a non-admin edits it, the entry page shows the latest edit instead of the last approved revision.


Extension UserFunctions


All the bureaucrats represents their user access level on their user page with static text. Example for User:Craigt:

My name is Craig Topham and I am an administrator and bureaucrat of the Free Software Directory.

The problem with that method is that each time the user access level changes the text has should be updated, for example when someone from the FSF gets retired. But this typically doesn't happen because it's inconvenient.

With https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:UserFunctions we can use this on the user pages for administrators and bureaucrats so they can represent their user access level on their user page dynamically. We can add this to a template that we add to the top of the users pages for example:

My name is {{#realname:alt}} and I am an {{#ifingroup:bureaucrat| [https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special%3AListUsers&username={{#username:alt}}&group=bureaucrat&limit=1 administrator and bureaucrat] |}} {{#ifingroup:administrator| [https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Special%3AListUsers&username={{#username:alt}}&group=bureaucrat&limit=1 administrator] |}} of the Free Software Directory.

There is also https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:RightFunctions.

Performance tuning


https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Performance_tuning

A lot of contributors have complained that the FSD has been slow in the past years. The most damaging aspect with this is that we are loosing contributors. It must with other words be fixed if we want more contributors -- something that has been suggested as being one of the most important thing with the project at all.

  • Ask FSF admins to provide an exact copy of the environment (database + software) so that can be reproduced locally and properly troubleshoot.
  • Switching to PHP 7 might help a bit but I think we have a problem with writing data to Semantic MediaWiki, this might me an issue with forms.
  • Install memcached, or find some other way to improve performance of the site. We already have Zend OPcache, for opcache, and APCu, for data store, installed and enabled. Memcached is like APCu, but slower.


wiki Session data


Disclaimer: Andrew was said that this is most likely not an issue with the programs that hosts the Directory. -- 2018-05-17

It may take a minute to move a page. Also, I get this message after ~1 minute (should be at least 5 minutes) of inactive form editing: 

Sorry! We could not process your edit due to a loss of session data.

You might have been logged out. Please verify that you're still logged in and try again. If it still does not work, try logging out and logging back in, and check that your browser allows cookies from this site.

One must note that this expiration is common practice in order to avoid fake authentication attacks. We must instead take the message at face value and think: "What can cause someone to stay various minutes editing a page? And how can we segment the edit so that this doesn't happen?"

Steps to reproduce:

  1. Click on the edit link of a page (or even the "edit with form" link).
  2. Do some edit but don't submit.
  3. Wait at least 10min without visiting nor browsing any page related to both the FSD and the FSF (because these are linked by a CAS, central authentication server/service).
  4. Submit the edit.
    • The message appears. From this point on, if you try to submit again, the data is sent as expected.


Import templates


Local time zone (solved)

After many hours of reading documentation and per consensus with Adfeno, I just deleted and replaced our custom-made Template:TZAbbrev with local time zone parser functions (which we didn't know existed at the time) to Template:IRC text: --David Hedlund (talk) 15:49, 17 December 2022 (EST)

  • {{#timel:T}} -- To Eastern Standard Time (EST, which is UTC−05:00), or Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, which is UTC−04:00)
  • {{#timel:e}}: IANA time zone identifier, "America/New_York"
Local time zone on outdated MediaWiki system

I'm curious how MediaWiki servers are affected by this.

The time zones are stored in MediaWiki, so it can be expected that the MediaWiki LTS version upgrade that is released after March 2023 will display the America/New_York correctly. Is this correct?

Trisquel is used to host the FSD as far as I know, and the current Trisquel MediaWiki LTS lags 1.5 years behind about up to two years at maximum from the latest LTS release.

If all of this is true, then I guess that I might take about 2 years before the America/New_York (Boston) time zone is updated in MediaWiki on the FSD.


Short version: if we decide to use wgLocaltimezone or the timel parser function, then this may become an FSF staff task since, if the local copy of PHP is not made to use GNU's date timezone database, then the correct observation of time will depend on either the installation of a PHP extension that updates the database, or upgrading PHP such that the builtin timelib database has the desired change. The long version follows after this paragraph, showing what I have found so far.
Downloading the REL1_31 branch of MediaWiki core, which should correspond to our 1.31.16 as seen on Special:Version, extracting it somewhere and looking for which files interact with $wgLocaltimezone (grep --exclude-dir='.git' -EiR 'wglocaltimezone') gives me a hint to look at includes/Setup.php and it's use of a function called date_default_timezone_set.
Since I couldn't find any such function definition in MediaWiki itself, I looked at PHP, first by downloading version 7.0.33, which is similar to the one seen on Special:Version, then by using grep in the same way as before, giving me a hint to look at ext/date/php_date.c.
At one point, the ext/date/php_date.c file goes on to define both the setter and getter (date_default_timezone_get), the last of which is even more interesting, since it queries a "timezone database" (DATE_TIMEZONEDB) using get_timezone_info. The same file conditionally defines DATE_TIMEZONEDB to use either a global database or PHP's builtin (timelib_builtin_db, from ext/date/lib/parse_tz.c) which, all in all, is just a construct of timelib_timezone_db_data_builtin from ext/date/lib/timezonedb.h.
Unfortunatelly, timelib_timezone_db_data_builtin is hardcoded. So the other side of the DATE_TIMEZONEDB definition seems to be more viable, which takes into account a supposed use of an external/global timezone database, which unfortunatelly leaves us with timezonedb from third-party repositories such as PHP's PECL.
Another alternative, although probably undoable as of today, is to make PHP use the same timezone information database as GNU's date, this would allow the system administrator to only have to deal with one update.
Another workaround would be not to use wgLocaltimezone, or force MediaWiki to consider the local system time (in America/New_York) as +00:00 or any numeric offset that you so desire. But for this hack to work, we might need to test a way to prevent actual change of time (hour and minute) in MediaWiki.
The last approach has the downside that, the displayed time may deceive most users, specially if a user logged in the FSD has set preference for another timezone, since when viewing the FSD, then it will be off by [real FSF offset]+[FSD offset]+[User preferences' offset]. --Adfeno (talk) 15:23, 17 December 2022 (EST)
Upon further search, there are performance reasons, and probably legal motivations, as to why PHP doesn't use the system's timezone database, as can be seen from a discussion on Stack Overflow. However, I don't know if all the reasons are still valid. --Adfeno (talk) 16:00, 17 December 2022 (EST)

Can the hard coded files be updated manually?

--David Hedlund (talk) 16:01, 17 December 2022 (EST)

It might work, but both of the newer versions of the mentioned files have too many differences from the originals, that can impact when rebuilding PHP. --Adfeno (talk) 16:28, 17 December 2022 (EST)
Ignoring the timezone issue, the timezonedb.h file seems to be the one to cause less issues in regards to functionality of PHP. --Adfeno (talk) 16:40, 17 December 2022 (EST)

GNU links License not in SPDX


GNU website links to License namespace pages that are not identified according to SPDX. I'm not saying that we should fix all of those, since SPDX might not have all licenses. Besides, I already took care to discard public domain. This is visible at least on https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html, which links to the following pages --Adfeno (talk) 19:30, 18 December 2020 (EST)

Tricky, since GNU website mentions it as a umbrella for all 1.x versions.
License:X11 is X11, while Expat is MIT.


misc issues



wgAllowUserJs


Personal JavaScripts are only available if $wgAllowUserJs is set to true. - https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Interface/JavaScript#Personal_scripts. wgAllowUserJs are set to true at wikipedia.org but not at directory.fsf.org (see policy).

I cannot use the tool mw.loader.load('//meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Hedonil/XTools/XTools.js&action=raw&ctype=text/javascript'); in my User:David_Hedlund/common.js.
Hotcat is also pretty interesting: This code is MW version safe. It should run on any MediaWiki installation >= MW 1.15. Note that HotCat is supposed to run with or without jQuery, and also on older installations that do not yet have window.mw. - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadget-HotCat.js


Change unapproved revs to category


Right now we have an issue where packages that aren't quite ready to be added to the Directory languish in unapproved revs. The packages don't need review; they need ongoing help to fix freedom issues. We want to keep these pages not listed in the Directory, but move them to like an Archive listing, where people can continue to file bugs and work with maintainers to fix the problems. But we want to get them out of unapprovedrevs, which is our listing for newly added packages that haven't been approved. mutante, a wikimedia amin, suggested that we just use categories rather than a special page. We can set the category automatically when people create the page, but then will later be able to change the category to either approved or archive as needed. This would also make it easier to take something down without deleting it, if freedom issues arise.

Suggested solution: I think SMW can evaluate unapproved/uncategorized entries. However, https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:UncategorizedPages (and other #Special pages) are empty. --David Hedlund (talk) 15:39, 16 March 2018 (EDT)


Add the new Group namespace


I suggest a new name space "Group".

I consider this a wontfix since moving and making namespaces is expensive, the wiki administrators themselves must deal and better organize the structure they already have in meaningful ways, for example, avoid inserting a collection as a project team, since the goal of the collection page is to point to “curated” list of software for a specific purpose, not to give information of a said group that edits that page. --Adfeno (talk) 18:08, 18 December 2020 (EST)


W3M and text based browser are hard to use forms


report from mailing list:

I just managed to submit an entry for my "dtas" software, but it was a bit painful since https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Form:Entry leads to a "loading..." page which requires JavaScript.

He noticed that the javascript was trying to load a specific page, so he loaded it himself (directory.fsf.org/wiki/Special:FormEdit/Entry/dtas) and was able to edit the form.


Category Candidates for deletion


Donald pointed out that https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category:Candidates_for_deletion lists pages that don't include the Category:Candidates_for_deletion tag: 

Category/Business/pim
Category/Editor
Category/Localization
Category/Localization/language-adaptations
Category/Text-creation
Category/Use/organizing
Category/Works-with/pim
Category/Works-with/text


Upgrade history


It seems unprobable that the Semantic MediaWiki issues appeared on their own, most probably MediaWiki extensions got updated and some things do no longer work as before. Would be good to know the history of upgrades to identify changes that has been made and how they have affected this wiki.  « Saper // @talk »  10:58, 27 January 2018 (EST)

{{Template:BacklogIssue|id=Promote online services|text= I've observed that currently one of the major issues in libre community is that end-users are unaware of libre alternatives to online services which forces the end-users to rely on Internet services where the common practice seems to be libre service providers doing self-promotions by upstream and it's users e.g. Example: https://github.com/PhoenicisOrg/phoenicis/pull/1917.

Common real-life example based on my experience would be end-user using Internet service like GitHub to host their code without being aware of services like gitea and it's providing networks which these users then migrate within a month after a discovery which was also how it happened in my case.

I believe that by promoting these services we can either solve this presented issue or contribute to it's solution. --Kreyren (talk) 21:05, 20 November 2020 (CET)

Logos


  • Why don't we use .svg files over .png files?


namimg



IceCatMeeting


I'd like to have a IRC meetings with Ruben at least a few times per year. Suggested plan: 1 hour every 3rd month.


Backlog Admin Group -BAG- and FSF Tech Team


I suggest a voice conference between the BAG and the FSF. Suggested plan: 1 hour every 3rd month.


Mozilla and FSD joint project


Mozilla closes to many relevant issues:

Solution: I think the FSF should help the Project Team for IceCat WebExtension to have IRC meetings with Mozilla. Suggested plan: 1 hour every 3rd month.


Blog template


Disclaimer: This has been implemented since "No Friday Free Software Directory IRC meetup on Friday July 20th" in https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory. Check a few more blogs to make sure it's well implemented.

Sent to donald@fsf.org 

What do you think about this?: Move the paragraph with unique text to
the top of the body text and add the remaining text under a section
called "About the Free Software Directory". Example for
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/directory/friday-free-software-directory-irc-meetup-time-june-22nd-starting-at-12-00-p-m-edt-16-00-utc-1

##############################

Current version

Join the FSF and friends Friday, June 22nd, from 12:00 p.m. to 3 p.m.
EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC) to help improve the Free Software Directory
this week by helping to promote it.

Help improve the Free Software Directory by adding new entries and
updating existing ones. Every Friday we meet on IRC in the #fsf channel
on irc.freenode.org.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to
discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of
useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing
detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and
licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained
volunteers.

When a user comes to the Directory, they know that everything in it is
free software, has only free dependencies, and runs on a free OS. With
over 16,000 entries, it is a massive repository of information about
free software.

While the Directory has been and continues to be a great resource to the
world for many years now, it has the potential to be a resource of even
greater value. But it needs your help! And since it's a MediaWiki
instance, it's easy for anyone to edit and contribute to the Directory.

A few weeks back we launched a new Project Team to create a logo that
packages can use to show off that they are included in the Directory.
But at this time, we still haven't found a team captain for the project.
This project could really help promote the Directory, as well as helping
packages to demonstrate that they care about software freedom. This
week, we'll be working to recruit a team captain, as well as trying to
get the project off the ground.

If you are eager to help, and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you
with all the information you need to get started on helping the
Directory today! There are also weekly Directory Meeting pages that
everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each
meeting. To see the meeting start time in your time zone, run this in
GNU bash: date --date='TZ="America/New_York" 12:00 this Fri'


##############################

Proposed template.

Join the FSF and friends Friday, June 22nd, from 12:00 p.m. to 3 p.m.
EDT (16:00 to 19:00 UTC) to help improve the Free Software Directory
this week by helping to promote it.

A few weeks back we launched a new Project Team to create a logo that
packages can use to show off that they are included in the Directory.
But at this time, we still haven't found a team captain for the project.
This project could really help promote the Directory, as well as helping
packages to demonstrate that they care about software freedom. This
week, we'll be working to recruit a team captain, as well as trying to
get the project off the ground.

[About the Free Software Directory]

Help improve the Free Software Directory by adding new entries and
updating existing ones. Every Friday we meet on IRC in the #fsf channel
on irc.freenode.org.

Tens of thousands of people visit directory.fsf.org each month to
discover free software. Each entry in the Directory contains a wealth of
useful information, from basic category and descriptions, to providing
detailed info about version control, IRC channels, documentation, and
licensing info that has been carefully checked by FSF staff and trained
volunteers.

When a user comes to the Directory, they know that everything in it is
free software, has only free dependencies, and runs on a free OS. With
over 16,000 entries, it is a massive repository of information about
free software.

While the Directory has been and continues to be a great resource to the
world for many years now, it has the potential to be a resource of even
greater value. But it needs your help! And since it's a MediaWiki
instance, it's easy for anyone to edit and contribute to the Directory.

If you are eager to help, and you can't wait or are simply unable to
make it onto IRC on Friday, our participation guide will provide you
with all the information you need to get started on helping the
Directory today! There are also weekly Directory Meeting pages that
everyone is welcome to contribute to before, during, and after each
meeting. To see the meeting start time in your time zone, run this in
GNU bash: date --date='TZ="America/New_York" 12:00 this Fri'


GPL


https://github.com/mozilla/addons-server/issues/8707 -- Mozilla (and perhaps most other developers) don't avoid the term "GNU General Public License, version 2.0" (or "GNU General Public License, version 3.0") as Ian pointed out later in that issue (https://github.com/mozilla/addons-server/issues/8707#issuecomment-401471396). Is the plan to split the license into two different licenses to avoid this issue completely: "GNU General Public License, version 4.0 only", "GNU General Public License, version 4.0 or later"?

Donald: "only" and "or later" are handled in license notices


New Antifeature


I want to add "officeonlinesystems PDF editor online" (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/editor-pdf-online/) to the Antifeature as an example for one of the following

please read about the program and tell me which section that match best.


CASAuth



reventry


Revision entry on plain oldiff page displays "$7": The bug can be seen in the revision summary next to the page title. Go to the history of a page, and click on any of the links that are in the dates (example "15:14, 27 January 2018‎").

This applies to the

  • main namespace, example [1]: Revision as of 17:08, 25 November 2016 by David Hedlund (talk | contribs | block)$7
  • project's namespace, example [2]: Revision as of 07:36, 24 October 2016 by David Hedlund (talk | contribs | block)$7
  • template namespace, example [3]: Revision as of 16:09, 27 January 2018 by David Hedlund (talk | contribs | block)$7

It doesn't affect:

  • property namespace (example: [4])
  • category namespace (example: [5])
  • Software software pages do not display revision summary at all so they are not either affected (example: [6]).

The $7 comes from the revision-info message (which can be seen at MediaWiki:Revision-info).


Client-side


The programs listed here has bugs that affect compatibility when you browse this website:


JavaScript errors


InvalidAccessError: A parameter or an operation is not supported by the underlying object ext.headertabs.core.js:41 TypeError: ss.rules is undefined[Learn More] wiki:477:35
might be mediawiki issue
TypeError: pf.select2.base is not a constructor[Learn More] ext.pf.select2.combobox.js:35:23
TypeError: pf.select2.base is not a constructor[Learn More] ext.pf.select2.tokens.js:36:21
initFunction is not a function $.fn.PageForms_registerInputInit 

jQuery.Deferred exception: initFunction is not a function $.fn.PageForms_registerInputInit/<@https://directory.fsf.org/w/extensions/PageForms/libs/PageForms.js?0b6cb:330:17
resolve/</mightThrow@https://directory.fsf.org/w/load.php?debug=true&lang=en&modules=jquery%2Cmediawiki&only=scripts&skin=vector&version=0hndq7l:3583:21
resolve/</process<@https://directory.fsf.org/w/load.php?debug=true&lang=en&modules=jquery%2Cmediawiki&only=scripts&skin=vector&version=0hndq7l:3651:12

URL: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Sandbox&action=formedit&debug=true#tab=3__Licenses

Related to date picker initialization in input_23


Server-side issues for Outreachy


These are some of the tasks that will be worked on by Outreachy interns during summer 2018

  • Improve responsiveness for mobile devices
  • Sync Debian package info into the directory


HTML Logos


Donald suggested logos in different sizes with HTML caption "Listed in the Free Software Directory". "something that packages could put on their website to show that they are free software and included in the directory". See these logos for example:

"The Free Software Directory (FSD, or simply Directory) is a project of..." - https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page

Proposed text on the logo


Upload form not working


The form for uploading screenshots to be displayed in the form does not work. As a user I receive this error and I cannot upload new screenshots. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 13:00, 23 November 2018 (EST)


Wikilinks in Software Prerequisites not working


The insertion of links in some parts of the template does not work, for example: 

{{Software prerequisite
|Prerequisite kind=Required to use
|Prerequisite description=[[Termenu]]
}}

The link [[Termenu]] will be filtered and transformed to simple text. The consequence is that it is not possible to link the prerequisites to other pages of the FSD. Being able to do it would give us enormous advantages as the pages would be better indexed by search engines and users could find new useful software starting from the dependencies of those already visited. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 12:58, 14 December 2018 (EST)


Obsolete categories


During the latest FSF IRC meeting, users and administrators reported that the categories listed in Free_Software_Directory:Workflow#Bugs_and_suggestions appear to be unused. Mr. Hedlund is currently maintaining the new service page Free_Software_Directory:Buggy_entries and users have easy access to the #fsf IRC channel by using web chats.
Question: should we maintain these old categories or should we transit completely to these new methods? --LorenzoAncora (talk) 15:30, 25 January 2019 (EST)


pending entries


On 6 Dec 2020, Lorenzo pointed out an issue that unapproved and pending entries for the FSD could be construed as free software when they may or may not be free. Cyberduck_CLI was used as the example. After some discussion, key elements of the solution were obvious.

  1. Any pending entry is CLEARLY marked (I say absurdly marked), that it is currently under review for inclusion in the FSD and we have not concluded that it is fully free software. If there is a way to change the color of a pending entry, that would be cool. Done.
  2. Control how and when nonfree entries show up in the FSD search and other web search engines. I think the default is to exclude as much as possible, but there may be unexplored advantages to include them in various search results. One undesired example being that if a user just searches for something, sees the search results include it as being on the free software Directory, they might assume the work is free without visiting the page.
    One example: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=Cyberduck_CLI&oldid=82006, we could maybe mitigate old unapproved revisions with something like User-agent: * Disallow: /wiki*oldid=*$
    I do not know of a way to completely automatically add unapproved entries to the robots file (and remove them once approved). There might be a way to completely do this using the API, some programming, and cron jobs. The robots approach also assumes that the scraper is following the restrictions in robots file which we know from logs and sysadmin emergencies is not always the case.
    We should consider adding `__NOINDEX__` to the unapproved message text.
    I think I most of these search engine issues moving forward by making a robots.txt file (we did not have one) and taking a snippet from wikipedia and the mediawiki doc. https://directory.fsf.org/robots.txt, https://en.wikipedia.org/robots.txt, https://www.mediawiki.org, wiki/Manual:Robots.txt
  3. Pending entries should have an educational component that allows visitors to learn more about the status of the entry. Talk: pages should work for this.
  4. Reviewing an entry is optimally done in private, similar to our compliance guidelines. However, for this to be useful, we have to list nonfree programs so staff and volunteers don't repeatedly review the same program over and over again. The presentation of pending entries should not reflect badly on a program, but this may be tricky to do. suggestions? --Craigt (talk) 15:30, 18 December 2020 (EST)
The bold mark on pages without approved revisions was a direct request by RMS, motivated by practical reasons. I think we can improve its appearance by reducing its size and using gray in place of black, but changing the color scheme of the unapproved revisions might compromise accessibility; the robots.txt solution won't work, because the Robots Exclusion Standard doesn't support regular expressions and globbing: __NOINDEX__ should be the most appropriate solution; software Talk pages are already used to start the revision processes and to add administrative notifications, but I could attach an extra documentation link to unapproved entries, using JavaScript; I think it is sufficient that the warning shown on unapproved pages maintains a purely technical connotation. --LorenzoAncora (talk)
It was recomended by adfeno to make use of the Template:AttentionBox to increase visibility of an entry's status. --Craigt (talk) 13:32, 24 December 2020 (EST)
I don't think this is a good solution, for two reasons: the use of templates does not natively integrate with JavaScript or CSS and therefore would require manual changes to the code of the extension included in the instance, changes that would be difficult to maintain in the long term (also, using XHRs to download the template would degrade the loading performance); a big message saying "Warning!" violates the prerequisite of this Issue (The presentation of pending entries should not reflect badly on a program). I suggest to add a message like This page revision is not approved and may not represent free software. Please browse the latest revision. at the bottom of all old page revisions. I've produced a preview. My mantra is: let's preserve the existing UX as much as possible, adding changes gradually and unobtrusively. ;-) --LorenzoAncora (talk) 07:06, 26 December 2020 (EST)
It was suggested by ggoes, "I think "is free software" would be clearer than "represents free software" Represents makes me think of some kind of spokesman thing. --Craigt (talk) 13:32, 24 December 2020 (EST)
Ok, the message can be edited without any problems, but we must all agree in order to minimize changes over time. The main problem is that all pages are subject to review and approval, so saying is free software might not be always correct in each context. I think that if the current message is too formal, we can replace represents with contains or links to and its truthfulness wouldn't be reduced. Additionally, we might even think about centring the message on the page if it's not yet prominent enough. I've produced a preview of both changes. 🎅 --LorenzoAncora (talk) 07:06, 26 December 2020 (EST)
What about reversing this statement, using an alternative expression of the same fact? "We do not yet know if this page links to proprietary software!" I think that is very clear and is explicit in what it is warning of. --Freefish (talk) 13:00, 25th of January 2021 (GMT)
Hi Freefish, TY for the suggestion, however I think it's too specific to catch all our use cases (the Directory rejects all non-free software, not only proprietary applications) and it does not represent the same fact (the opposite of free is non-free). If the administration really feels the need to change the phrase, we could use "This page is a submission in progress.\nWe do not yet know if this page exclusively refers or links to free software.". Such a comprehensive statement should please and protect everyone. Craig, do you think this new phrasing is adequate? --LorenzoAncora (talk) 06:11, 29 January 2021 (EST)
I support the more comprehensive statement. However, I think we can provide even more detail. It should direct readers to the Discussion page for more information and include an explanation as to why we are taking this approach with in-progress entries. Craigt (talk) 13:38, 12 February 2021 (EST)
Good. The new message is online since the last meeting and no issue was reported. If there are no complaints, this Issue will be archived during the next meeting. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 04:35, 17 February 2021 (EST)
Regarding the presentation of this message, given that nearly all other visual elements in the Directory are left-aligned, centering the warning will not necessarily make it more prominent. In general, when adding emphasis to an inline element it is usually best to use HTML's <em> tag and let the user's browser choose how to display this emphasis. This is because it results in better accessibility and compatibility than with custom styling. --Freefish (talk) 13:00, 25th of January 2021 (GMT)
EM tags are forbidden/ignored in CSS content; also, inline elements cannot influence the absolute alignment of a widget and there is no actual evidence of an enhancement from an accessibility PoV. --LorenzoAncora (talk) 06:11, 29 January 2021 (EST)


multiple_rejections


Craigt mentioned recently on IRC that there were some entries that have been submitted and rejected multiple times, due to there being no record of previously rejected entries. I would suggest adding a new category, 'Rejected entries', that would include proprietary packages. Each page therein would include not a description of the package, but rather a description listing the licensing problem(s) that the package has, as well as whether that list is conclusive or not (so that it can be seen if, after one issue has been fixed, the package is a candidate for re-submission). A message would be added to the new entry form politely asking users to check this category to see if their entry has been rejected in the past. Finally, all pages in this category would be invisible to non-registered users to help avoid any misunderstanding that these packages are free. Freefish (talk) 12:24, 25th of January 2021 (GMT)

I added a robots file a few weeks ago that should not index revision pages. I second adding `__NOINDEX__` to the template. Mmcmahon (talk) 11:15, 25 January 2021 (EST)


category_page_broaden_links


I fixed a bug related to a hard coded value on the breadcumbs template, but now there is the remaining issue that pages like Category/Business link to themselves, rather than to the Main Page. It might make sense to check where that template is used, and maybe hard-code links to the main page, rather than using a query. If it's used in many places, we could make templates for different cases. This template has similar code, which may be useful when working on the breadcrumbs template page. -- Sudoman (talk) 15:16, 10 February 2021 (EST)

I changed the template call in category pages to just contain the breadcrumbs for the main page. That seems easiest, and to do what we want. this issue can be closed now. -- Sudoman (talk) 15:16, 10 February 2021 (EST)


expose the ethical rating of repository references


New Feature Proposal

The FSF evaluates the ethical attributes of some repository services here:

https://www.gnu.org/software/repo-criteria-evaluation.html

The FSF Directory is littered with hyperlinks to MS Github and gitlab.com. Users can conveniently click on those links and effectively be sent by FSF into a walled garden that FSF gives a low rating to. This is the problem:

  • Visitors are sent to Github and gitlab.com using their browser. Those pages force execution of non-free javascript. The common way to access projects with free software is to use git (e.g. "git clone"). On Feb.12, 2021 this was briefly discussed at the Directory meeting in #fsf. It was argued that the links to respositories that push non-free javascript should be inactive links to discourage execution of non-free js whilst making it easier to copy/paste links for use with "git clone", as attempts to copy a hyperlink often inadvertently triggers the link.
  • Visitors and those working on free software projects are not informed as to the ethical aspects of the repository. This is a missed opportunity. It would be useful to take this opportunity to inform the public about the repo evaluation.
  • (perhaps unrelated) gitlab.com currently has an incorrect rating of "C". The evaluation is not about the repo software, but rather the service. While the Gitlab Community Edition is free software, the enterprise edition that the gitlab.com service uses pushes non-free javascript (including but not limited to CloudFlare's hCAPTCHA). The rating links to "gitlab.com", which therefore must be downgraded from "C" to "F".

Note that none of the above reflects any agreements or decisions. No decisions were made at the meeting on Feb.12, 2021. There was merely attention on the issue. Particulars about how to solve the above mentioned matters probably still need discussion. --Cypherpunks (talk) 15:20, 12 February 2021 (EST)


filter-search-by-os


There is a feature request for limited search by OS. This functionality would be nontrivial to implement as the dataset is implete and would require hacking on mediawiki's search functions. Mmcmahon (talk) 11:04, 24 June 2021 (EDT)


Instructions for archiving defunct or abandonded programs

 * link to latest available source code from archive.org or softwareheritage.org (fsf needs to clarify)
 * provide a short message about the status

Need to sort out how programming languages are included in the FSD

Example project team

New issue title

Wikitext


Other issue, without old identity

Wikitext.

High Priority Project page needs to be updated to current campaign's HPP list

Campaign's High Priority list https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/priority-projects needs to be supported by and correspond with https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category:High_Priority_Projects. The HPP collection page https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Collection:High_Priority_Projects needs to be grouped by the items listed on the campaigns page, so the items can link and provide a list of programs designated to support the campaign's HPP list.


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