Module Submission

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what if there isn't a module in the Moonbase for the package that you want, or it is not the latest version, or it is out-of-date in some other way?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 Mailing-List so that the others can see it and the Lunar developers can decide whether to include it in the Moonbase? Even if they don't, your module will still be available to interested parties via the mailing list archive.

So what do you need to be able to submit a module?

• You need to be subscribed to the Lunar Mailing-List. Why not do it now anyway?

• If you have a working out-going mail connection.
  • Maybe you haven't yet got or don't want to have a full mail installation on your system. Then you could install a minimal out-going mail only system. Download the esmtp module from the Moonbase and configure the /etc/esmtprc or $HOME/.esmtprc file as described in the on-line manual. That's all there is to it.
  • Simply run lvu submit myModule. You will see a submission template in the editor of your choice. Fill in the blanks: email address, some module details, and some explanatory text about your submission. Are you happy with the BUILD file? What options have you tackled? How much testing have you done? Write the template and submit. It's as easy as that.

• If you don't have sendmail or esmtp installed, you can still send updates as patches.
  • Creating a patch is as easy as lvu diff myModule > myModule.patch. Send the patch file as an attachment to the mailinglist and it will be picked up as a normal submission.

• Remember to watch the mailing list for feedback. It might show up as a new module in the Weekly Overview without further comment. You might not hear anything more because the developers are all busy with mainstream infrastructure and modules, but at least you have contributed and your contribution is available in the archives for other interested users.

Note: the above currently applies to submitting a module using lunar. Sofar has just released a version of theedge that contains new code so that lvu submit module sends the relevant information using http. All you need to do is fill in a submit message, in the same style as a cvs/svn commit.