Re: [MENTORS] Potential issue with GitHub releases
Dave Fisher <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.apache.incubator.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Hi Justin, Thanks for providing these links. Responses inline. > On May 2, 2026, at 5:02 PM, Justin Mclean <[email protected]> wrote: > > HI, > >> IIRC GitHub releases are never, ever official ASF releases and should not be made at all. (Releases prior to incubation are ok.) > > The infra distribution policy [1] describes GitHub as a managed platform that projects are welcome to use for releases. It also states that other platforms can be used for PMC-approved artifacts as long as those binaries comply with ASF release, licensing, branding, and trademark policies > > https://infra.apache.org/release-distribution.html#other-platforms This clearly allows GH Releases as an additional distribution as long as they conform to Release policy. There’s a catch and that is that GH Releases include a zip of the repository as source. I’ve heard that Logging makes sure that their ASF Source Release are actually such a GH Source release. That’s hard, but feasible. The question of immutability is also important. `.asf.yaml` needs to apply this PR: https://github.com/apache/infrastructure-asfyaml/pull/84 > On May 2, 2026, at 4:51 PM, Justin Mclean <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > >> If this has changed, please provide a reference where LEGAL has approved. If not then perhaps a LEGAL jira should be created asking about conditions around convenience GitHub “Releases”. > > A previous board approved this guide, which includes GitHub. [1] I see the policy. Do you recall when and how that Board approved the policy? None of the LEGAL jiras reached any conclusions and mostly defer to INFRA and/or the VP, Legal asks for a formal proposal. > See also [2], where VP legal notes that legal doesn't drive changes in the distribution policy. This has also been discussed in [3], where infra raised the issue with GitHub. But as far as what legal thinks see [4]. "LEGAL take is that as long as these are clearly marked (snip) here should be no problem with that." > > Kind Regards, > Justin > > 1. https://incubator.apache.org/guides/distribution.html#github > 2. https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LEGAL-612 > 3. https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LEGAL-438 > 4. https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LEGAL-664 Best, Dave