Re: First draft of application to Sovereign Tech Fund

Hi Karl,
I think you are right. Let us concentrate on Automake first. Your 
changes to the application are making the statements more clear, thank 
you. I removed OpenJDK and LibreOffice, as they are not using Automake. 
If you know two other widely known projects using Automake, we could add 
them instead.

Find the complete application text below. Can you please confirm that I 
should submit the application to STF?

Kind regards,
Christoph


 >> Application

 > Category

Join the Bug Resillience Program

 > Application name

Autotools

 >> Project

 > Project title

Automake Direct Contribution 2024

 > Link to project website

https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/

 > Link to project repository

https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/automake.git

 > Where is your open source technology project being
 > used (describe all user bases)?

GNU Autoconf and GNU Automake are the core of the GNU Autotools. They 
help in making source code packages portable to virtually all Unix-like 
systems. They are used by GNU GCC, among thousands of other packages. 
The interface that they implement is the standard for GNU.

 > Why do you consider your open source technology project
 > to be relevant and critical?

Many projects rely on Automake (and Autoconf) as crucial part of their 
build system. Moving to alternatives is challenging. Without a working 
build system, users might not be able to build the software using the 
build system.

 > How does your open source technology benefit the public interest?

A build system is like water or electricity, it is supposed to work and 
nobody thinks about it. Once service is disrupted, we realize how much 
depends on it. Many users never know of Automake. The programmers and 
packagers work behind the scenes, relying on the build systems 
effectiveness.

 > Please describe the history and state of development of your open
 > source technology

Automake automatically generates input files for Autoconf and adds 
dependency tracking. Version 1.0 was released in 1996. Automake is 
(primarily) implemented in Perl, and also uses m4 and shell scripts.

Automake is completely dependent on Autoconf, which is an extensible 
package of M4 macros that produce shell scripts to automatically 
configure software source code packages.

Autoconf and to a somewhat lesser extent Automake became very popular in 
the 2000s, as extremely portable and adaptable build systems. It is 
often possible to configure a package for compilation on a new system 
without user intervention.

Plenty of projects haved switched to other build systems for various 
reasons, but numerous projects still rely on the Autotools.

 > Which BRP services are you interested in?

[x] Direct Contributions
[ ] Bug Bounty Program
[ ] Secure Code Audits

 > Describe why your project needs those services?

Automake (and Autoconf) have relatively few contributors, and thus 
releases are infrequent and some bugs, especially system-dependent ones, 
have remained unfixed for years. The many dependencies (GNU m4, GNU 
libtool, plus (f)lex, bison/yacc, compilers, etc.) make it relatively 
difficult for newcomers to make substantive contributions without 
significant effort.

On the other hand, C, C++, Python, and other languages are evolving, and 
the new versions of these language standards are often 
backward-incompatible with existing code and practice. Thus the 
Autotools must adjust.

We are hoping for direct contributions, particularly fixes for open bugs.
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?package=automake