RE: Open Source menu system

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scott Klement [mailto:klemscot-QiMvqoXZMzZWk0Htik3J/[email protected]] 
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 12:37 PM
> To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
> Subject: RE: Open Source menu system
> 
> > I suspect that the patches, project management and potential
> > forks would be handled like all other open-source projects.
> > Once the code was released it would be out of IBM's hands.
> 
> Who's hands would it be in, then?   I'm confused.  All open-source
> projects either have someone who is "the authority", or they 
> have a group of people who are "the authority."
>
> Someone has to decide which patches are keeping within the goal of the
> project, following the standards set out for the project, etc.  Usually in
> large open source projects there's a core team that decides what the goals
> and standards are, and that team appoints "committers" that have the
> authority to bring patches into the main body of source.
> 
> A "committer" is trusted that he will make sure the code is following
> standards, works properly, and doesn't break anything before 
> he adds it to the main body of the source.
> 
> In some projects, like FreeBSD, committers are only allow to install
> patches into a "cutting-edge" version of the project.  The 
> idea is that a large group of people (who don't mind occasional breakage
or 
> instability) get a chance to test a patch before it makes it to the 
> "stable" version. 
> The only way to bring a patch into the "stable" version is to 
> test it in the "cutting-edge" version for awhile.
> 
> As you can imagine, all of this requires administration.  Who 
> would be the "the authority" who would administer all of these details on 
> an SDA/SEU project, if not IBM?

OK, I was confused too ... nothing new here :) Thanks for the detailed 
insights into this process.  I had a general overview of open source 
project management but did not realize that it could snowball into 
such a large administrative burden. 

> > The iSeries is a small/niche market and lot of us who work
> > on them don't have time to work on projects like this
> > at our places of employment.  If an affordable development
> > box was available this might change the level of participation.
>
> That's probably true, but are you asking IBM to change that?  If so,
> you're asking for quite a bit more than just open-sourcing 
> SDA and SEU.

LOL.  No, it was just an observation :)
 
> Corporations are going to reap the benefits of this project, 
> why shouldn't they do their part and donate an iSeries and relevant 
> software in order for them to be developed and tested?

I doubt any company would donate hardware to support a project
like this :(  

> There's a problem, IMHO, with open-sourcing things like SEU, SDA,
> OfficeVision, etc.  The problem is that the people who want them open
> sourced have no interest in maintaining the projects -- all 
> they want is to continue to get updated software.
> 
> Basically, they want someone else to do all of the work of 
> maintaining the software, and allow them to keep using it for free.   
> That's not the open-source model!
>
> Open source implies that people who use it will give back to 
> the project in some way.  Either by coding, helping with administration, 
> helping with distribution, providing support to others, donating equipment

> that can be used for testing/development, donating money that can be used
for
> upgrading that equipment or operating system release, etc, etc.
> 
> Unless there is a large community of people who want to actually DO THE
> WORK of the open source project (as opposed to just wanting to USE it)
> it would be a disaster for IBM to release their products this way.

OK, I was stupid ... "open source" is obviously not the answer here.
No more posts from me on this subject ;-)  

It's just a shame that IBM is letting a good program go to waste
and there is no method for interested users to help them keep it
going.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Scott.  I know your
a busy guy :)

Terry



_______________________________________________
This is the Open Source Software for the AS400/iSeries (OSS400) mailing list
To post a message email: OSS400-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/oss400
or email: OSS400-request-Zwy7GipZuJhWk0Htik3J/[email protected]
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/oss400.