There are problems concerning migration of yourname@ openoffice.org, listname@ openoffice.org, and servicename@ openoffice.org. Consequently, all yourname@ openoffice.org addresses will be shut down when the migration goes into its final stages sometime in November.
I don't have a solution. I have an appraisal of the issue. It is something that requires mutual understanding and, out of our mutual attention, the prospect of a workable solution. - Dennis E. Hamilton tools for document interoperability, <http://nfoWorks.org/> [email protected] gsm: +1-206-779-9430 @orcmid DETAILS 1. The presumption is that these addresses (and sometimes the services) cannot be preserved in the migration of the http:// *.openoffice.org properties from Oracle custody to Apache custody, even though the domain name can be preserved. This is a technical capability obstacle. Volunteers on the Apache OpenOffice.org podling are already spread too thin and priority is given to bugzilla, the forums, the wiki, and the static content from the properties. In addition, there is software involved that must either be migrated over or replaced in a way that the @ openoffice.org forwarding is continued when the migrated site goes live. That requires technical capacity along with access to the necessary data on the existing system. 2. There is an untested presumption that it is not legal to transfer those forwarding accounts because of rules about privacy and European trans-national data-sharing regulations. (I am not an attorney. And I wonder how the Sun -> Oracle transfer managed it and also wonder where the forwarding system and data are currently operated that such conditions apply.) 3. CONSEQUENCES: If (1-2) are indeed show-stoppers, the default action is to notify people as well as can be done and allow the accounts and e-mail forwardings to simply expire this month. There are 10's of thousands (if not 100's of thousands) of such accounts. It does not appear possible to notify the holders of the accounts individually. This impacts the current existence of yourname@ openoffice.org used in - Bugzilla accounts and incident reports, - in the historical code base change and contribution information, - user registrations on wikis, forums, and other openoffice.org properties - registration on ooo-dev and folks who have moved from the various OpenOffice.org lists to ooo-*@ i.a.o lists too, - identification of participants in historical list-archive messages - all other personal uses of the yourname@ openoffice.org as an identifier or account e-mail address - anchoring e-mail address associated public-key infrastructure certificates and PGP public keys - receipt of personal e-mail via There is speculation that the disruption of e-mail is tolerable and that most of the current accounts have been abandoned. That view seems to ignore the importance of these identifiers as part of the provenance structure for contributions to the open-source project and the integrity of the code base and related artifacts. Personally, I'm not betting any amount that shut-down of these accounts and the sudden loss of e-mail forwarding is so inconsequential. However, I am not competent to contribute to a technical solution, nor is it possible for me to be trained as some sort of hero that could pull it off in the few weeks available for a solution. 4. WHAT'S NEEDED A. There needs to be a clear-eyed discussion and understanding of the enormity (or inconsequentiality) of these accounts having their forwarding operation terminated on short notice. The options and the risks need to be understood in the community of stakeholders and the discussion needs to held calmly and in public. ("The way to speak to the PPMC is on ooo-dev.") B. The reality of any legal obstacles to the safe and private preservation of the forwarding accounts and in-openoffice.org registrations needs to be determined quickly. There is no point in implementing a technical solution if that is a show-stopper. The AOOo PPMC can secure the support of the Apache legal team to determine whether there is an acceptable way forward. C. Individuals with technical knowledge of the current setup, its operation, and how it is backed-up need to be identified and be available to assist those preparing the new host setup. (This is a request for specific expertise, not speculations on what someone else should do or not.) D. There needs to be a non-panic approach to notifying those with myname@ openoffice.org addresses still in use. It is prudent to quickly off-load those for personal e-mail and use as identifiers in account registrations. There is still reason to preserve the accounts and their associations for provenance and authenticity reasons. Success of even that much is not assured.
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