> https://gitlab.com/evlaV/holo-PKGBUILD

So to summarize: Valve provides source code for what they distribute, in compliance with the GPL, but this person went on a personal crusade to demand they open up their private GitLab to the world?

There appears to be some interesting history here, but this takes the cake as the weirdest README I've ever seen in a git repo.

The writing is impenetrably wordy and filled with excessive bolding and parentheticals. It goes completely off track and turns into an extremely long rant that implores the reader to "abstain from procreation", among other things. There are hundreds of links and hundreds of quotes mixed into long-winded sections about the author's self-importance.

Does anyone have a link to a more down to earth, less self-important, and more importantly concise explanation of what's going on?

From what I understand from this repo, the problem is that the official Valve source code release contains PKGBUILD files with build steps that reference a private Gitlab repo that's internal to Valve. So while there is a public release of all source code available for download from Valve's website, these sources cannot actually be built because they want to clone a repo that cannot be accessed.

(In other words, even if you download a tarball of all SteamOS code, you cannot build it, because the build script insists on downloading source code from a Valve-internal remote, instead of looking for it locally.)

So to fix this, the author of this repo did two things: they created public mirrors of all individual git repos that are referenced by the PKGBUILD scripts (presumably by extracting the tarballs from Valve's release and running git init/add/commit/push), and then they created a "master" repo (linked here) that has only the PKGBUILDs, which the author fixed so they reference their own public mirrors instead of Valve's internal GitLab repos. See [1], for example, which contains the build instructions for the Steam Deck's DSP driver. The referenced git repository ([2]) is an inofficial mirror of Valve's internal repo, created from the source code release from the Valve website.

So no, it's not a "personal crusade" to demand Valve open up their "private GitLab to the world". It's a serious grievance about Valve releasing an "open-source" software that cannot actually be built from source, and a request for Valve to provide a public GitLab mirror themselves, such that their PKGBUILD scripts will actually work.

I agree that the author has a confusing writing style, but I do understand their frustrations and concerns.

[1]: https://gitlab.com/evlaV/jupiter-PKGBUILD/-/blob/master/stea...

[2]: https://gitlab.com/evlaV/valve-hardware-audio-processing

Yeah, this is clearly a person going through a mental health crisis. Sorry for them.

oh no, this again.. I remember checking out HoloISO when I was looking for SteamOS at launch… did a quick lookup on the creator and yeah, turns out he's a racist furry (literally)..

> I dunno if I'd characterize this as "public"

Then define public and state what's wrong with this repo which conflicts from your definition of public.

For me this looks like a fine public resource and after a short glimpse it looks like that you should be able to even build this effing source code from this repo.

Edit ps. If you edit your own content then please leave a note about what you have changed please

The linked repo isn't the official public resource. Valve provides the source packages for what they distribute (aka GPL compliance) but this person wanted them to open up their private GitLab instance to the world.

As far as I can tell, they wrote a script to download the source packages they provide and then try to reconstruct them into a GitLab repo.

Well based on the paragraphs in the README it's not actually being updated anymore, it only reflects SteamOS as of August and the author quit running their process to update it.

The ask was "when are we going to get a public release for SteamOS"

Someone's bootleg copy of the private repo is not proof that it has

Now I see...

Down down down you find

> (April 1, 2024): After over 2 3 years (and 2 Steam Deck model releases - LCD and OLED) Valve still hasn't publicized their private GitLab repositories nor fully complied with the GPL. I decided to (finally) release the relevant portion of my automated "bot" project, aptly titled srcpkg2git. This/These software/tools haven't been updated/modified much since 2022, but should allow users to easily access and even mirror Valve's SteamOS private repositories (as I've demonstrated with these public mirrors (@gitlab.com/evlaV) the past over 2 3 years).

Yes indeed. That's hardly public what we can get...

If I understand this correctly, Valve provides the src packages for the packages they distribute. This person wrote a script to download the src packages and extract them. The README misleadingly claims it's a "mirror" of Valve's private git repos, which is not accurate.

The author wants them to open up their GitLab instance, showing their internal development. That's not required under GPL.

Valve appears to be complying. This person wanted access into their internal development systems, though.

The rest of the README is tens of thousands of lines about capitalism, abstaining from procreation, and withdrawing from society with hundreds of links to videos and hundreds of quotes. It's very strange. These are not the writings of a healthy person, sadly.

Somewhere along the line during the past almost 30 years, we forgot what public and private mean.

You can download it and install images freely. The source code is private but available.