[tools-pmc] Request to approve XULRunner as an exempt pre-req

[David M Williams <david_williams@xxxxxxxxxx>]

PMC Colleagues, 

The ATF project would like to require ("pre-req") XULRunner to be 
installed by users of ATF since for many of their main functions to work, 
such as debugging, css outlines, etc. it is required. 

As per Eclipse's Third Party Dependencies Policy, for them to do this, the 
Tools PMC and the EMO must agree that is the correct classification for a 
pre-req, which would not go through IP review. See Third Party 
Dependencies Policy for complete details, but the section specific to 
'exempt pre-reqs' is as follows:

[...]
3. All "pre-req" dependencies must be declared to and approved by the EMO.

4. "pre-req" dependencies fall into two cases: "exempt pre-req" and 
"non-exempt pre-req". This
determination is made by the EMO with input from the relevant PMC and 
project leadership.
a. A pre-req may be classified as "exempt" by the EMO if the software is 
pervasive in
nature, expected to be already on the user's machine, and/or an IP review 
would be
either impossible, impractical, or inadvisable. Exempt pre-reqs can be 
approved for use
by the EMO without IP review. Examples: Windows XP, Sun JRE. However, an 
exempt
   pre-req may be disallowed by the EMO at its discretion.
[...]

I think XULRunner, in a generic form, qualifies as an exempt pre-req since 
it is pervasive. It is distributed with most or all Linux distributions, 
and is a sub-component of Firefox, a wide-used browser with is readily 
available for all major platforms and architectures. 

The ATF team will submit JavaXPCom in a CQ and they will distribute that, 
for major platforms and architectures, as a fragment for one of their 
plugins (or eventually from the Orbit project). JavaXPCom is a relatively 
small interface to XULRunner APIs (approx. 1000 files) so it is feasible 
to review and distribute it. It is this distribution of this interface 
that allows them to interact with XULRunner in a more generic fashion and 
make use of what ever happens to be installed on a users machine. That is, 
they would not need a specially compiled version of XULRunner. (There will 
of course be some limits, as to exact version, etc., but that's currently 
unknown and would not substantially change the status or request to 
consider XULRunner as an exempt pre-req.) See also CQ 3551 for some other 
discussion of this general issue. 

If we, the Tools PMC, agree with the exempt pre-req classification, then 
the ATF Project can take this forward for approval by the EMO. 

To document approval, please respond with +1 to this list.

If you disagree, or would like to discuss more, please raise the issues 
here, in the CCQ 3551, or set up a phone call to discuss in more detail. 

Thank you,