I would like to request permission to bundle forked code from eclipse-jgit in takari-archiver package.
takari-archiver contains a single file ({{{FileMode.java}}}) forked from eclipse-jgit (packaged in Fedora). This file is included in takari-archiver source repository and maintained as part of the project. Since the file was forked, Takari upstream implemented a few features, removed some cruft and reformatted source.
takari-archiver is already in Fedora. Currently bundled code is removed with a patch, but the patch may be too invasive and I would like to remove it and keep bundled/forked code.
Has the library behaviour been modified? yes, there are several new features added (see below for changelog)
Why haven't the changes been pushed to the upstream library? because eclipse-jgit doesn't need these changes; Takari developers are also Eclipse commiters, they would have pushed changes if they thought that was appropriate
Have the changes been proposed to the Fedora package maintainer for the library? N/A (I am comaintainer of eclipse-jgit)
Could we make the forked version the canonical version within Fedora? theoretically yes, we could patch eclipse-jgit code, but but it's not optimal solution
Are the changes useful to consumers other than the bundling application? possibly yes
Why aren't we proposing that the library be released as a fork of the upstream library? that wouldn't make sense in this case
Is upstream keeping the base library updated or are they continuously one or more versions behind the latest upstream release? I don't expect Takari upstream to merge changes from jgit - they took further development of forked code
What is the attitude of upstream towards bundling? they usually don't bundle, but in this case bundling was justified to avoid adding a big dependency
Does the maintainer of the Fedora package of the library being bundled have any comments about this? N/A (I am comaintainer of bundled library)
Is there a plan for unbundling the library at a later time? there no no plans for unbundling this, neither upstream nor in Fedora
bundled file: {{{src/main/java/io/tesla/proviso/archive/FileMode.java}}}
changes made to forked version: https://github.com/takari/takari-archiver/commits/master/src/main/java/io/tesla/proviso/archive/FileMode.java
Talking to Mikolaj, I agree that patching eclipse-jgit and then patching takari to use eclipse-jgit is too invasive for the benefits that unbundling this single class would bring. And there are no other consumers for the changes that takari has made to this file (either now or in the foreseeable future).
For me, this is low risk enough to fall under http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Packaging:No_Bundled_Libraries#Too_small_to_care
Just going to close this, as not only is it tiny but we discussed something else bundling FileMode within the last couple of weeks and everyone at that meeting also agreed it was tiny and didn't even need to be brought to our attention.
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