[Incubator] Considering Portable GIS as an OSGeo community project
Jeff McKenna
jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
Mon Aug 28 10:12:48 PDT 2017
Hi Jo,
Some minor feedback: on the page
http://portable-gis-docs.readthedocs.io/en/latest/nomodification.html
the link to MS4W is broken, please point to http://ms4w.com
thanks,
-jeff
On 2017-08-28 2:02 PM, Jo Cook wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I've added a contributing guidelines page and moved the license and
> changelog to the root of the portable gis repository at
> https://gitlab.com/archaeogeek/portable-gis. Does it all look OK?
>
> Thanks to everyone who has offered to assist with Portable GIS- it's
> really appreciated.
>
> All the best
>
> Jo
>
> On Sun, Aug 27, 2017 at 6:34 PM, Landon Blake
> <sunburned.surveyor at gmail.com <mailto:sunburned.surveyor at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> If I can help Jo with set-up as a community project, let me know.
> I'm a Windows user...so I can help with the testing of releases. I'd
> also be interested in learning more about how this works. :]
>
> Landon
>
> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 4:26 AM, Jo Cook <jocook at astuntechnology.com
> <mailto:jocook at astuntechnology.com>> wrote:
>
> Hi Jeff,
>
> There's no relationship as such between Portable GIS and
> OSGeo4W- they are really complimentary projects with different
> objectives. The way I see it, Portable GIS provides a portable
> (hence the name) set of open source geospatial tools that don't
> require installation and can be taken from windows computer to
> windows computer on a USB stick,compared to OSGeo4W, which
> provides a streamlined way of installing the tools on a machine.
> They have some packages in common, but not all (I include
> PostgreSQL/PostGIS and GeoServer alongside QGIS, Mapserver etc,
> but otherwise a much more limited set of tools than OSGeo4W due
> to space considerations).
>
> When OSGeo4W first came out (believe it or not, Portable GIS
> predates it) there was some discussion about the possible
> relationship between the two packages at that point, but like I
> say, they have different objectives and exist in harmony together.
>
> Hope that clears things up- I'll add some disambiguation to the
> readme and website next time I do an update!
>
> Jo
>
> On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 9:16 PM, Jeffrey Johnson
> <ortelius at gmail.com <mailto:ortelius at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Just curious about the relationship to osgeo4w
>
> On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 1:06 PM, Cameron Shorter
> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com
> <mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com>> wrote:
> > Hi Jo,
> >
> > I'm really excited to see you pushing Portable GIS
> forward. I think that
> > having a windows based OSGeo distribution is a great
> complement to
> > OSGeo-Live, as OSGeo-Live is tied into (and limited to)
> being a linux
> > distribution.
> >
> > I also see potential for collaboration between OSGeo-Live
> and Portable GIS.
> > Eg, the OSGeo-Live Project Overviews could note whether
> the project is
> > available on Portable GIS.
> >
> > We could also potentially align OSGeo-Live and Portable
> GIS release
> > schedules (which would help with aligning documentation).
> >
> > Re packaging, have you considered building with cygwin
> (which is Open
> > Source)?
> >
> > I'm happy to answer questions about license. While I'm
> not a lawyer, I have
> > been involved in plenty of licensing selection
> discussions, including for
> > OSGeo-Live.
> >
> > Re Portable GIS licensing, I assume your build tools are
> not embedded in the
> > final Portable GIS software distribution? That would mean
> that the final
> > software distribution does not inherit to the license of
> the build tools. So
> > I suspect you should be ok to select what ever license
> you choose for the
> > build tools. That is how we have approached the
> OSGeo-Live build scripts,
> > which are LGPL. (Documentation is licensed under CC-By
> for Project Overviews
> > and CC-By-SA for Quickstarts).
> >
> > Warm regards, Cameron
> >
> >
> > On 24/8/17 1:22 am, Jo Cook wrote:
> >
> > Hi Jody and list,
> >
> > Having had a bit of a think about licensing, I had
> previously chosen GPLv3
> > *for my components alone* and I think I'm happy with
> that. As far as I can
> > tell, I can license my modifications alone with GPLv3
> regardless of what the
> > software projects themselves are. I've had a look at how
> OSGeo Live works,
> > but that doesn't help much
> (https://live.osgeo.org/en/copyright.html
> <https://live.osgeo.org/en/copyright.html>). Is
> > there anyone on the list who could help me out with this-
> basically to
> > confirm or deny?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Jo
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 8:55 AM, Jo Cook
> <jocook at astuntechnology.com
> <mailto:jocook at astuntechnology.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Jody,
> >>
> >> That all sounds really encouraging and yes I'd be happy
> to go through the
> >> process with you and the team. We (Astun) potentially
> have another project
> >> that we'd like to submit for consideration too, and I'll
> be in touch
> >> separately about that one.
> >>
> >> Regarding autoit, no you don't need to purchase anything
> to use it. Having
> >> thought about this in some more detail, I think I will
> try to move away from
> >> that dependency and try to find an open source
> alternative but that will
> >> obviously take some time to work through, so it would be
> good if we could
> >> start working through the process of becoming a
> community project while that
> >> is ongoing.
> >>
> >> I'll make some tweaks to the repository to make sure
> that the various docs
> >> are easy to find, and then maybe come back to you when
> that's ready. I want
> >> to think a little about whether I'm using the most
> appropriate license too.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >>
> >> Jo
> >>
> >> On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 6:12 PM, Jody Garnett
> <jody.garnett at gmail.com <mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com>>
> >> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Glad to hear from you Jo!
> >>>
> >>> Although the "OSGeo community" initiative was started
> last year, we have
> >>> not had a chance to try it out yet (perhaps due to lack
> of publicity). If
> >>> you are patient with us we would enjoy going through
> this process with you,
> >>> and revising our notes as we go.
> >>>
> >>> The wiki OSGeo Community Projects page has the
> following recipe:
> >>>
> >>> If your project would like to join OSGeo the technology
> initiative asks:
> >>>
> >>> That your project is geospatial (or directly supports
> geospatial
> >>> applications);
> >>>
> >>> Data & doc projects would of course need an appropriate
> data or
> >>> documentation license
> >>>
> >>> That your project is open source
> >>>
> >>> Uses an OSI approved open source license
> >>> That you know where your source code came from, and
> that care is taken
> >>> when accepting external contributions
> >>>
> >>> Participatory (accepts pull-requests)
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Along with a few notes on how we can quickly check the
> LICENSE,
> >>> CONTRIBUTING, README files.
> >>>
> >>> autoit
> >>>
> >>> Your question about autoit is tricky, it is freely
> distributable - so not
> >>> a barrier to use. We are actually in a similar spot for
> the GeoTools and
> >>> GeoServer projects. When they were first created Java
> was not open source so
> >>> there were some very heated discussions with the gvSig
> team on if you could
> >>> ever make a free software solution using Java.
> >>>
> >>> But we are an open source software foundation (not at a
> free software
> >>> foundation) allowing GeoTools, GeoServer .. and by
> extension autoit.
> >>>
> >>> This question of Java still troubles us, while Java is
> now open source,
> >>> the image processing library that was included in Java
> is still only free to
> >>> distribute. This causes problems for the OSGeo Live and
> uDig projects.
> >>>
> >>> I would be concerned though if people need to purchase
> autoit in order to
> >>> work on your project? There is a slight difference
> between being required to
> >>> purchase a tool, and optionally using a tool. For
> GeoTools we can "work
> >>> with" the Oracle Database (if user installs the right
> jars they have
> >>> downloaded from Oracle) or ArcSDE (if the user installs
> the right jars they
> >>> have purchased from ESRI). However if a contributor is
> not in possession of
> >>> these artifacts they can still work on the project as a
> whole.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Jody Garnett
> >>>
> >>> On 22 August 2017 at 06:25, Jo Cook
> <jocook at astuntechnology.com
> <mailto:jocook at astuntechnology.com>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hi Incubator List,
> >>>>
> >>>> As you may or may not know, I have been running a
> small project called
> >>>> Portable GIS (GIS on a USB stick for Windows) for a
> number of years. The
> >>>> basic premise is to provide a no-install, no-config
> version of many of the
> >>>> common open source GIS projects on a USB stick.
> >>>>
> >>>> Recently I built a website for the project
> (portablegis.xyz <http://portablegis.xyz>) and I'm
> >>>> working through the process of documenting and
> publishing all the
> >>>> configuration changes that need to be made to make
> projects portable (mainly
> >>>> batch files to be honest). This also includes the
> source code for building
> >>>> the menu and installer files.
> >>>>
> >>>> This is on Gitlab at
> https://gitlab.com/archaeogeek/portable-gis
> <https://gitlab.com/archaeogeek/portable-gis> so that
> >>>> I can now start accepting contributions. Note that
> this repository does not
> >>>> contain the actual source code for the projects such
> as QGIS, it just
> >>>> contains the files that need to be adjusted to make it
> work portably.
> >>>>
> >>>> One of my colleagues has suggested that Portable GIS
> could be an OSGeo
> >>>> Community Project, so here I am, asking about it :-)
> >>>>
> >>>> My main concern is that autoit, which I used for
> building the menu, is
> >>>> freeware rather than opensource (see
> https://www.autoitscript.com/site/
> <https://www.autoitscript.com/site/> and
> >>>> specifically
> https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/license.htm
> <https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/license.htm>). My gut
> >>>> feeling is that this bars Portable GIS from being
> truly open source, and
> >>>> hence not suitable for being an OSGeo Community
> Project. Would that be
> >>>> correct?
> >>>>
> >>>> If this was the only bar to entry, I could certainly
> look at alternative
> >>>> options for building the menu.
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards
> >>>>
> >>>> Jo
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Jo Cook
> >>>> t:+44 7930 524 155
> <tel:%2B44%207930%20524%20155>/twitter:@archaeogeek
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>> Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West Street,
> Epsom, Surrey,
> >>>> KT18 7RL, UK
> >>>> t:+44 1372 744 009 <tel:%2B44%201372%20744%20009> w:
> astuntechnology.com <http://astuntechnology.com>
> twitter:@astuntech
> >>>>
> >>>> iShare - enterprise geographic intelligence platform
> >>>> GeoServer, PostGIS and QGIS training
> >>>> Helpdesk and customer portal
> >>>>
> >>>> Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in
> England and Wales.
> >>>> Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom,
> Surrey, KT19 8LN VAT no.
> >>>> 864201149.
> >>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> Incubator mailing list
> >>>> Incubator at lists.osgeo.org
> <mailto:Incubator at lists.osgeo.org>
> >>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Jo Cook
> >> t:+44 7930 524 155
> <tel:%2B44%207930%20524%20155>/twitter:@archaeogeek
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Jo Cook
> > t:+44 7930 524 155
> <tel:%2B44%207930%20524%20155>/twitter:@archaeogeek
> >
> >
> > --
> > Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West Street,
> Epsom, Surrey, KT18
> > 7RL, UK
> > t:+44 1372 744 009 <tel:%2B44%201372%20744%20009> w:
> astuntechnology.com <http://astuntechnology.com>
> twitter:@astuntech
> >
> > iShare - enterprise geographic intelligence platform
> > GeoServer, PostGIS and QGIS training
> > Helpdesk and customer portal
> >
> > Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in England
> and Wales.
> > Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom, Surrey,
> KT19 8LN VAT no.
> > 864201149.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Incubator mailing list
> > Incubator at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Incubator at lists.osgeo.org>
> > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Cameron Shorter
> > M +61 419 142 254 <tel:%2B61%20419%20142%20254>
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Incubator mailing list
> > Incubator at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Incubator at lists.osgeo.org>
> > https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/incubator>
>
>
>
>
> --
> ***Jo Cook*
> t:+44 7930 524 155 <tel:+44%207930%20524155>/twitter:@archaeogeek
>
>
> --
> Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West Street, Epsom,
> Surrey, KT18 7RL, UK
> t:+44 1372 744 009 <tel:+44%201372%20744009> w:
> astuntechnology.com
> <http://astuntechnology.com/>twitter:@astuntech
> <https://twitter.com/astuntech>
>
> iShare - enterprise geographic intelligence platform
> <https://astuntechnology.com/ishare/>
> GeoServer, PostGIS and QGIS training
> <https://astuntechnology.com/services/#training>
> Helpdesk and customer portal
> <http://support.astuntechnology.com/support/login>
>
> ^Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in England and
> Wales. Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom, Surrey,
> KT19 8LN VAT no. 864201149.
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> Landon
> "Homemade cookies. Hmmmmmmmmmm!"
>
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>
>
> --
> ***Jo Cook*
> t:+44 7930 524 155/twitter:@archaeogeek
>
>
> --
> Astun Technology Ltd, The Coach House, 17 West Street, Epsom, Surrey,
> KT18 7RL, UK
> t:+44 1372 744 009 w: astuntechnology.com
> <http://astuntechnology.com/>twitter:@astuntech
> <https://twitter.com/astuntech>
>
> iShare - enterprise geographic intelligence platform
> <https://astuntechnology.com/ishare/>
> GeoServer, PostGIS and QGIS training
> <https://astuntechnology.com/services/#training>
> Helpdesk and customer portal
> <http://support.astuntechnology.com/support/login>
>
> ^Company registration no. 5410695. Registered in England and Wales.
> Registered office: 120 Manor Green Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT19 8LN VAT no.
> 864201149.
>
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