Module Submission

Revision as of 16:52, 28 October 2007

Submitting modules to the official Moonbase

Why would I want to?

The official Moonbase is maintained and updated by the Lunar Linux developers. But what if there isn't a module in the Moonbase for the package that you want, or it is not the latest version, or it is out-of-date in some other way?

Well obviously you can report the problem via the Bug Tracker, the Forums, the Lunar Mailing-List, or discuss it on the #Lunar IRC channel on Freenode.net and hope that someone can help you.

Or you can scratch your itch the open source way and create or update the module yourself using the information in the articles: A basic module outline and Writing Lunar-Linux Modules. Remember to work in the zlocal section so that your updates are not lost the next time you download a new Moonbase.

And then what? Maybe other people could benefit from your module. Maybe other people could improve your module. So why not submit it to the Lunar developers so they can decide whether to commit it to the Moonbase?

So what do you need to update and submit a module?

Let's assume that you have found the theModule no longer downloads and installs properly and you want to fix it.

• subscribe to the Lunar Mailing-List. Not sure if this is still required, but why not do it now anyway? Other users might have feedback about the module.

• run lvu edit theModule to copy the existing theModule files to zlocal.
• run lvu cd theModule or manually change into the directory given by lvu edit
• edit the DETAILS file and modify the version number to the latest one available
• edit the UPDATED date to today's date
• run lget theModule and see if the new version downloads OK
• run sha1sum /var/spool/lunar/theModule-(whatever the new file name is)
• insert this checksum in the SOURCE_VFY field in the DETAILS file

• run lin theModule and test, test and test again

• if you haven't already done so, you will need run lunar set ADMIN your@e-mail.adress, or run lunar and follow the menus, before the next step in order for the submission script to work (it requires a valid e-mail address).

• if it all works, run lvu submit theModule and provide a meaningful message (see Note).
• you should receive e-mail feedback whether your submission was accepted or the reasons for rejection but remember that the devs have real lives too and might not have chance to look at your module immediately.

Note: The first line of the message will be visible on the on-line Submission queue. Give the reasons why the module has been updated, and what you have changed. This message can then be used directly when submitting the changes to the central moonbase.