Barry Warsaw wrote:
I'm definitely open to suggestions. My primary goal is first, to make Mailman easier to contribute to, and second, to make it easier to maintain. Mailman 2 is a GNU project so I think we should continue to support the procedures the FSF requests of GNU projects as much as possible, for now at least. But if people think the requirements are too onerous, please let us know!
Speaking for the Translation Project: The contribution procedures are really simple if you tell translators: this is the document which you have to print out and sign, and this is the address you have to send it to. this is the set of strings that you have to fill into the form. People are slightly bothered, but generally willing to sign a form if all they have to do is to print a sheet of paper, put some well-known text into it, and put it into an envolope with a stamp on it. People are much more bothered if they actually have to think about this, e.g. when being given options to do either a) or b). Only occasionally, people complain that mailing to the U.S. is too costly; we then found a way to collect letters in the country, and have them batch-mailed into the U.S. If that would ever arise with mailman, we could happily coordinate with the team leader of the local team (they would normally be willing to pay the overseas stamp out of their pockets). Of course, you should make really sure in advance that you never have to go back and change the procedures, in case the translators signed the wrong document. So it should be certain that mailman is covered by whatever they sign. Also, if that procedure is in place, you should actively encourage translators to sign the papers ASAP, i.e. before they start translating. The entire snail mail game will take some time, and formally, you cannot accept their work until the papers have been received. Regards, Martin