Free Software Directory:Workflow

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NOTE: Many sections of this documentation are out of date and refer to a system of review that predates the approved revisions system. We are working to update the documentation, but it will require some work in determining what to do with outdated pages and categories.

Please keep up to date by reviewing our participation guide.

Administrative scripts

You can find the auxiliary scripts to manage the Free Software Directory in the Admin Scripts section.

Read the documentation carefully before using these scripts: an incorrectly used script can cause extensive damage, so if you are unsure ask for permission before trying to use these scripts.

Administrative notifications

You can leave administrative notifications using the well-documented Administrative Notification template.

{{AdministrativeNotification|level=inote|content=Free software cannot be stopped.|signature=--~~~~}}

...for example will produce an important note with the text Free software cannot be stopped. and your current signature.
This template can represent notes, important notes, warnings, severe warnings and administrative actions. Read the template page for detailed instructions.

License concerns

Please note: When publishing a new entry to the Free Software Directory, please make sure that it meets our requirements. If the license is not a free software license, then it should not be added to the directory. Therefore, check the license first! If you have questions about whether a program should be added, you can ask the directory-discuss@gnu.org mailing list.

  • If you conclude that we can't admit a entry into the Directory, then delete the entry with a description of the issues. Make sure to leave a description of the issue, as this will be kept in the deletion log for future reviewers to see.

When updating an existing entry

  • When updating license info for a package, please make sure it meets the FSF's requirements, and ask another FSD administrator to review your work if needed. Also, if you update the license info or confirm that it is correct in a newer version, be sure to update the License reviewed by and License reviewed date fields for that package.
  • When updating an existing package in the Directory, if you suspect the package has changed and become proprietary software, then this should be flagged for urgent review immediately. Also, contact another administrator letting them know about the situation.
  • If you are having trouble updating or checking the license for a package, don't let this halt updating other aspects of the package's information. Simply update the information you can and then either update the existing bug report, or create a new bug report that states the license info needs to be checked and updated. Note that this applies to updating a license, not adding a new project to the directory.

Types of contribution

  • Form:Entry: Admins can use this to create new project pages. (see below.)
  • Form:Entry: Anyone with a user account can ask for a package to be added to the directory.
  • Anyone with a user account can file a bug report, using one of the links on entry pages.

About editing with forms

At the top of pages in the Review: namespace is a link that will allow you to create or edit entries without typing URLs or entering a name into Form:Entry. Currently, to make changes to an entry's content you must type in your own sentences, and copy and paste basic info. To avoid copyright infringement, please use your own wording for program descriptions.

When you want to edit a page, you have the option of using "Edit" or "Edit with Form". The first allows you to see the source code of the page and offers more flexibility, whereas the second one presents you with a convenient form layout, allowing you to edit current values.

Entry editing tips and guidelines

There is a manual that describes the meaning of each field in Form:Entry: Guide to Form:Entry. It also marks which fields are important or required.

Bugs and suggestions

Requested updates to existing submissions get categorized as "Bug report":

When completed, the category gets changed to "Bug report-done"

If you edit a bug report using "edit with form", you can mark the it as having been reviewed. This changes the category automatically.

Viewing submissions (requests)

New entry creation requests (submissions) are created with "Form:Entry":

Submissions are in the 'Review' category

After you actually add an entry to the directory through Form:Entry, edit the "Finished review=No" field to say "Yes", to change category to 'Reviewed'.

If you accept the submission and add it to the Directory, it is nice to email the person who submitted it and let them know it is there now. You might mention the weekly IRC meetings and see if they are interested in helping us maintain this entry and others. You can set the reply-to address as <directory@fsf.org> if you like.

Organization of FSD

Here are some pages that an admin will find useful:

Categories mentioned above

Not mentioned above

Site development

These links are useful for people working on fixing and bringing new features to the directory:

Free Software Distros

Some places to coordinate work specific to free software distros.

  • FSD:Trisquel: Trisquel packages that should be added to the FSD.

Also, see FSD:GNU.



Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the page “GNU Free Documentation License”.

The copyright and license notices on this page only apply to the text on this page. Any software or copyright-licenses or other similar notices described in this text has its own copyright notice and license, which can usually be found in the distribution or license text itself.