[Qemu-devel] freeoszoo.org help is needed to get a better welcome process for new contributors

[Raphaël Enrici]

Dear all,

I'm writing to you to ask for help. Sorry if this a bit off topic as 
this is not directly linked to qemu software technical development, but 
I think that the FreeOSZoo is linked to the qemu development as it helps 
with testing it. I also do not see any other place to begin with for 
this particular problem:

We registered the freeoszoo.org last June and since this date some 
people reported they want to contribute images or qemu daily builds or 
whatever that could help to try qemu software. In the first instance we 
opened accounts on the main host to the people who first submitted the 
idea of the OS Zoo so that images can be distributed quickly to the 
world (or at least to the person interested by them throughout the world 
 ;) .

The main questions I ask to myself are:
- how can we trust people who want to contribute ?
- should we stop people from contributing because we can't verify who 
they are ? (there are not so many contributors actually, only three or 
four people, but maybe there will be more one day).

The problems we have identified are these:
a) trust problem:
we could try to develop a web of trust based on gpg signatures but IMHO 
the FreeOSZoo project is too small for that. FreeOSZoo people are mainly 
located in France and Italy and most of the contributors are coming from 
other countries (USA for example)... Any idea on how we could take care 
of this ? Maybe qemu developers could help here (something like: yeah I 
know this guy...) ?

b) upload process need to be enhanced: for example, images need to be 
described more precisely so that they can be automatically checked by 
scripts before being moved to the ftp archive and announced on the 
website. (signature check or things like this)

c) point "b" does not solve the problem where images/builds contains 
illegal material and/or copyright violations, but I can think of no way 
to solve this one but being careful about it.

Any suggestions, experiences are welcome.

Regards,
Raphaël for the FreeOSZoo project.
P.S. Please CC me, it will help sorting the mails.