- Why is NeuroDebian not a Pure Blend?
- This is in the works, but...
-
- There is no need for it to become one, as the existing Debian Pure Blends
- already offer the desired functionality *within* Debian. Similar to Pure
- Blends, NeuroDebian's goal is to provide software for neuroscientists using
- the Debian operating system, and therefore the ultimate goal is to get all
- relevant software **into Debian**.
-
- However, various reasons exist that prevent a particular software from
- entering Debian. Some are temporary, i.e. a package is already useable, but
- some technical bits do not meet Debian's standards (yet) or a licensing issue
- needs to be resolved first. For some software the licensing is so restrictive
- that it cannot be distributed by Debian, and hence cannot even go into its
- *non-free* branch. Unfortunately, sometimes these issues cannot be solved to
- a degree that is acceptable for Debian. For some other packages Debian itself
- is not ready yet, e.g. huge data packages with neuroscience data (:ref:`with
- sometimes over 1GB <pkg_fsl-first-data>`).
-
- NeuroDebian aims to be a platform that provides a staging area for
- neuroscience software packages on their way into Debian. All packages are
- properly registered in the relevant `Debian Pure Blends`_, e.g.
- `Debian Science Cognitive Neuroscience`_ or `Debian Med Imaging`_. Inside
- Debian these efforts already provide a suitable framework for this purpose,
- and hence there is no need to establish yet another one.
-
- .. _Debian Pure Blends: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianPureBlends
- .. _Debian Science Cognitive Neuroscience: http://blends.alioth.debian.org/science/tasks/neuroscience-cognitive
- .. _Debian Med Imaging: http://debian-med.alioth.debian.org/tasks/imaging
-
-
- I want to help. How do I get involved?
- We always need people to help maintaining existing packages. If you need
- some additional software packaged and you want to try it on your own, we would
- be happy to mentor you. We also have a :ref:`list of ongoing and planned
- projects <projects>`, each listing a number of tasks that need to be done.
-
- If you found something you are interested in, please email the
- neurodebian-devel_ mailing list and let us know about it. Thanks!
-
-
- When does a package migrate from NeuroDebian into Debian proper?
- In short: When it is ready. The longer answer is that there is nothing
- special to packages in NeuroDebian in comparison to packages conducted
- elsewhere. Packaging efforts are announced to Debian via ITPs_ and the
- packaging itself is available in some version control system -- typically in
- the Git repositories of the `pkg-exppsy group on Debian's Alioth server`_, or
- another VCS, or on http://mentors.debian.net.
-
- The only difference is that a particular package becomes available through the
- NeuroDebian repository before it has passed all checks for compliance with
- Debian's standards. But even after a package becomes part of Debian the
- NeuroDebian repository continues to provide binary packages of new versions
- for a certain set of Debian and Ubuntu releases (aka backports).
-
- .. _ITPs: http://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp
- .. _pkg-exppsy group on Debian's Alioth server: http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-exppsy/
-
-