Re: SWI-Prolog is open source

Hi Paulo,

On 4 December 2013 16:01, Paulo Moura <[email protected]> wrote:
> [...]
>
> Open source forks are often a waste of developers resources (on both sides), even when done honestly (including complying fully with the original license). But, in this particular case, why would anyone consider forking SWI-Prolog because of the V7 changes instead of actively testing and contributing to keep the "--traditional" command-line option running smoothly?
>
> [...]

Well, firstly, I should be clear that I have no intention of forking
SWI-Prolog, as if anyone was worried. :-) I just wanted to mention
that doing so is not as clear-cut as it might seem. (But Jan has
clarified his view.)

I agree with you (and Derek) about keeping "--traditional" bug-free.
But the deeper issue is that, as Jan has made clear, new developments
such as new libraries will be built on the "non --traditional" side of
V7. People who don't embrace the new changes won't be stuck without
Jan's past efforts, but they will fail to benefit from his future
ones, which is a shame. Paul Singleton put it eloquently when he said
he was "*seriously* spooked to be sidelined into a --traditional
mode."

Kind regards,

Michael