<s>
Waf	B-Application
is	O
a	O
build	B-Application
automation	I-Application
tool	O
designed	O
to	O
assist	O
in	O
the	O
automatic	O
compilation	B-Language
and	O
installation	B-Application
of	I-Application
computer	I-Application
software	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
written	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
and	O
maintained	O
by	O
Thomas	O
Nagy	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Waf	B-Application
's	O
source	O
code	O
is	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
,	O
released	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
New	O
BSD	O
License	O
,	O
though	O
its	O
accompanying	O
documentation	O
is	O
under	O
the	O
CC-BY-NC-ND	O
license	O
,	O
which	O
forbids	O
both	O
modification	O
and	O
commercial	O
redistribution	O
:	O
this	O
prevents	O
vendors	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Debian	O
project	O
from	O
including	O
Waf	B-Application
documentation	O
in	O
their	O
distributions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Thomas	O
Nagy	O
created	O
a	O
build	B-Application
automation	I-Application
tool	O
called	O
BKsys	O
which	O
was	O
designed	O
to	O
sit	O
on	O
top	O
of	O
SCons	B-Application
,	O
providing	O
higher-level	O
functionality	O
similar	O
to	O
that	O
of	O
Autotools	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
part	O
of	O
an	O
effort	O
for	O
switching	O
KDE	B-Application
away	O
from	O
Autotools	B-Application
to	O
a	O
more	O
modern	O
build	B-Application
system	I-Application
in	O
the	O
beginning	O
stages	O
of	O
the	O
KDE	B-Language
4	I-Language
development	O
cycle	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BKsys/SCons	O
was	O
chosen	O
by	O
the	O
KDE	B-Application
community	I-Application
as	O
their	O
new	O
standard	O
build	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
Thomas	O
Nagy	O
decided	O
that	O
SCons	B-Application
's	O
fundamental	O
issues	O
(	O
most	O
notably	O
the	O
poor	O
scalability	O
)	O
were	O
too	O
complex	O
and	O
time-consuming	O
to	O
fix	O
,	O
he	O
started	O
a	O
complete	O
rewrite	O
which	O
he	O
named	O
Waf	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
BKsys	O
being	O
recognized	O
as	O
a	O
dead	O
end	O
,	O
KDE	B-Application
decided	O
to	O
switch	O
to	O
CMake	B-Language
instead	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
Waf	B-Application
continued	O
to	O
be	O
maintained	O
as	O
an	O
individual	O
project	O
and	O
has	O
since	O
seen	O
prolific	O
development	O
and	O
adoption	O
by	O
other	O
communities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Waf	B-Application
features	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Waf	B-Application
supports	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Provides	O
various	O
tools	O
for	O
processing	O
DocBook	B-Protocol
,	O
man	B-Protocol
pages	I-Protocol
,	O
</s>
<s>
Waf	B-Application
is	O
written	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Rather	O
than	O
being	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
installed	B-Application
as	O
a	O
prerequisite	O
piece	O
of	O
system	O
software	O
,	O
as	O
with	O
build	B-Application
systems	I-Application
such	O
as	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
make	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
distributed	O
as	O
a	O
script	B-Language
including	O
an	O
embedded	O
archive	B-Application
file	I-Application
,	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
run	O
to	O
unpack	O
the	O
Waf	B-Application
sources	O
within	O
a	O
project	O
's	O
own	O
source	O
tree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Waf	B-Application
's	O
source	O
code	O
is	O
released	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
New	O
BSD	O
License	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Nagy	O
's	O
intent	O
is	O
that	O
Waf	B-Application
is	O
to	O
be	O
included	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
an	O
individual	O
software	O
project	O
rather	O
than	O
installed	B-Application
as	O
a	O
system-wide	O
build	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
that	O
effect	O
,	O
the	O
documentation	O
which	O
is	O
shipped	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Waf	B-Application
release	O
is	O
under	O
the	O
CC-BY-NC-ND	O
license	O
,	O
which	O
forbids	O
both	O
modification	O
and	O
commercial	O
redistribution	O
:	O
this	O
change	O
was	O
made	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
obstruct	O
the	O
Debian	O
project	O
from	O
including	O
Waf	B-Application
as	O
a	O
system-wide	O
software	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
Debian	O
initially	O
simply	O
refrained	O
from	O
including	O
documentation	O
,	O
a	O
direct	O
request	O
from	O
Nagy	O
made	O
Debian	O
remove	O
Waf	B-Application
and	O
discourage	O
its	O
use	O
as	O
a	O
build	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Debian	O
developer	O
Ian	O
Jackson	O
opined	O
that	O
using	O
Waf	B-Application
as	O
distributed	O
in	O
a	O
build	B-Application
system	I-Application
for	O
software	O
under	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
GNU	B-License
General	I-License
Public	I-License
License	I-License
(	O
GNU	B-License
GPL	I-License
)	O
would	O
be	O
in	O
breach	O
of	O
the	O
terms	O
of	O
that	O
license	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
unpacking	O
script	B-Language
produces	O
an	O
obfuscated	O
copy	O
of	O
its	O
original	O
source	O
code	O
rather	O
than	O
the	O
"	O
preferred	O
form	O
for	O
modification	O
"	O
,	O
as	O
is	O
required	O
by	O
the	O
GPL	B-License
's	O
wording	O
on	O
build	B-Application
systems	I-Application
.	O
</s>
