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Revision as of 15:42, 7 September 2011 by Nsoranzo (talk | contribs) (s'PackageMaintainers/CVSAdminProcedure'Package SCM admin requests)

A page of the Fonts Special Interest Group

Putting it all together.

The following is a quick summary to help newcomers undertand the Fonts SIG workflow.


Who are they?
Requester and Packager can be the same person. Reviewer must be different from the Packager.


A font package lifecycle
Phase # Who Actions Requirements
Conception 1 Requester
  • finds a nice font to package in Fedora,
  • checks its licensing is acceptable, basically that:
    • redistribution, including commercial is allowed, and
    • modification, including of existing glyphs is allowed too
Don't stop there
This is a simplistic summary, do read our legal page before proposing new fonts.
  • fills a packaging request in the wiki using the current template
    • a complete and accurate request will increase packaging and adoption potential
  • notifies the SIG mailing list of the new packaging request (optional but recommended)
Gestation 2.a Packager
  • picks up a packaging request in the wishlist,
  • corrects and completes the information the requester provided
    • using the Packager notes in the template for guidance
  • packages the fonts:
# yum install fontpackages-devel
  • self-checks the result:
    • builds the package in Mock or (if he's already a packager) in a Koji scratch build
    • checks the resulting packages with rpmlint
# yum install rpmlint
$ rpmlint package1.rpm … packageN.rpm
    • checks the resulting packages with repo-font-audit:
# yum install fontpackages-tools createrepo
$ mkdir /tmp/testrepo
$ mv package1.rpm … packageN.rpm /tmp/testrepo
$ createrepo /tmp/testrepo
$ repo-font-audit testrepo file:///tmp/testrepo
  • uploads the fixed packages somewhere
  • requests a review
  • notifies the SIG mailing list of the new review request (optional but recommended).
  • the full joining the fonts SIG list,
  • if the packager is not a packager member yet, the way his membership request will be acted on depends on the quality of the new package he proposes.


Font packages are normal packages
Most packaging steps are detailed on the general new fedora packager page.
2.b Reviewer
  • makes sure the steps outlined in previous phases have been completed, 1 included
  • reviews the package
  • ask the requester fix eventual problems
2.c Packager
  • acts on reviewer requests
2.d Reviewer
  • checks the fixes
  • approves the package
Birth 3.a Packager
  • requests a VCS root for his package, declaring the fonts-sig user in the default CC list.
  • publishes his package in the fedora-devel branch, then in other branches (stable release, EPEL branch, etc)
  • completes the distribution comps files
  • adds the koji and pkgdb references to the original wiki packaging request
  • changes its category to Category:Packaged fonts
  • notifies the SIG mailing list of the new package (optional but recommended)
  • notifies the font upstream its font has been packaged in Fedora (optional but recommended)
3.b Requester
  • thanks the packager publicly. Small things count too.
Life 4.a Packager
  • monitors new upstream releases, new fedora bugs,
  • updates his package in fedora-devel accordingly,
  • pushes the updates to other Fedora branches when they're worth it
Be conservative
Users to not like continuous updates for small changes. Update in fedora-devel (rawhide) early and often. Think twice before pushing changes to other branches.
Don't leave now
Please avoid fire and forget packaging.
4.b Users
  • a bugzilla account
Bugzilla is required
Packagers are not psychic, they don't monitor the whole web for problems, if you want them to address yours, please use our bugzilla.
Death 5 Fedora QA A change in Fedora policies or a problem missed earlier may cause a font package to be retired.


Fonts in Fedora
The Fonts SIG takes loving care of Fedora fonts. Please join this special interest group if you are interested in creating, improving, packaging, or just suggesting a font. Any help will be appreciated.