How to contribute RPMs to the CentOS Project

Notice: As of 2006/09/11, his page has been moved to the CentOS Wiki at http://wiki.centos.org/HowToContribute/Packages , and will be kept updated there; This one is still up mainly for archival/reference purposes, and is likely out-of-date.

I've found the answer to that question at last, after searching the FAQ in vain and hanging some hours in the #Centos IRC Channel at Freenode Network; It should be in the official FAQ real-soon-now, but I'm also posting it here to help other would-be contributers.

Summary:

Make sure the package you want to contribute isn't already in some repository; some well-known repositories that have CentOS packages are:
- ATrpms packages
- FreshRPMS, Dries and DAG consolidated list of packages
Make sure the package you want to contribute isn't already being submitted:
- Check http://dev.centos.org/; unfortunatelly there isn't (as far as I could see) a single page to check, you will have to check the distribution you want to contribute for under http://dev.centos.org/centos/N, where N is the distribution version number; for example, to contribute a package meant for CentOS 4.2, please check both http://dev.centos.org/centos/4.2/testing/SRPMS/ and http://dev.centos.org/centos/4/testing/SRPMS/
- Check the RPMForge SVN repository
- Finally, check Karanbir Singh's RPM list here and here .
If you don't find it anywhere, then go ahead and contribute it:
- Submit the .spec file along with a URL to the src.rpm file to the centos-devel mailing list: just email it to <centos-devel AT centos DOT org>;
- Wait while a developer collects your submission from the mailing list, checks and builds it, and moves it to dev.centos.org's repo;
- If your submission gets enough interest after appearing on the dev.centos.org's repo (5 positive votes or more), it gets moved to the mirror.centos.org repository

That's it. Thanks z00dax (a.k.a. Karanbir Singh) for his kind help and explanations.

IRC log

Sat Apr  1 09:26:51 EST 2006
irc chat @ irc.freenode.net 6667, channel #centos

<durval> Hello folks! Do anyone here know how I can contribute RPMs to CentOS?
  Seems like contrib is closed and empty...
<Arrfab> durval : take contact with a CentOS devel guy ...
<durval> Arrfab: thanks for the tip. Do you know whether the developers hang
  around here (#centos) or not?
<z00dax> durval, whats up ?
<durval> z00dax: trying to find how upload some contrib RPMS to a CentOS repo...
<durval> z00dax: are you a developer?
<z00dax> durval, yes
<z00dax> durval, you need to make sure the pkgs you are building are not
  already in rpmforge.net ( check svn.rpmforge.net ) and also not included in
  centos.karan.org
<z00dax> durval, if they are not - submit the .spec file along with a url to
  the src.rpm to [email protected] mailing list, it will get collected
  from there, checked and built, moved to dev.centos.org 's repo's
<z00dax> durval, if we get enough interest from there ( we ask for 5 positive
  votes ) it gets moved into the mirror.centos.org repository structure
<durval> z00dax: thanks for the explanation. Just one more question: in
  svn.rpmforge.net I would check via browser the
  http://svn.rpmforge.net/svn/trunk/rpms/ URL, correct? Or do I have to
  install/use Subversion?
<z00dax> durval, just look at with browser :)
<z00dax> durval, we try and work with the rpmforge guys to make sure that we
  dont overlap work...
<durval> z00dax: very nice! also, at http://centos.karan.org/, is it enough to use
  the Quicksearch box or should I search deeper?
<z00dax> durval, http://centos.karan.org/el4/extras/stable/i386/SRPMS/ look
  through that tree
<z00dax> durval, and http://centos.karan.org/el4/misc/stable/i386/SRPMS/
<durval> z00dax: Ah! Thank you very much for your help. I will collect that info and
  post it somewhere for other willing-to-contribute folks to find...
<z00dax> durval, its in the faq's on the website
<durval> z00dax: really? But I've looked for it high and low, and all I found was
  http://centos.org/modules/smartfaq/faq.php?faqid=12, which doesn't really
  explain anything. Do you mind to tell me where (so I can refer it to others)?
<z00dax> durval, if its not there, I'll add it in a bit
<durval> z00dax: nice! thanks again, and I will be going now to post some contribs.
  Bye!

==Eof==