Ian Collins wrote On 01/31/07 15:42,:
Jim Grisanzio wrote:
Ian Collins wrote:
Dennis's post on the GPLv3 thread:
"Let's fast forward two more years and if we have another mad rush of
people NOT joining this project what then? Another marketting fix and we
rename this to the Java Enterprise OpenSolaris project with Sun
Community Source License ( SCSL ) license added and on and on we go
trying to fix something."
got me thinking about why we don't have more community participation on
OpenSolaris.
Can you be more specific what you mean by "community participation" in
this context?
More of us getting stuck into the gaps that hinder the spread of
OpenSolaris, working either as independent OpenSolaris developers or as
an integral part of a Sun project team. I'd like to think that one day
I can make a living as an OpenSolaris developer.
So far, I'm getting the impression from these two threads today that
what people mean is primarily code contributions and/or anything
specific to working with the code. Which is fine, of course, but I
think that represents just one way someone can contribute, and it also
represents the smallest number of people in the community (since they
are the most advanced). By the way, I feel that at this early stage we
are not nearly diversified enough to really engage non-technical
people, but I'd love for that to be the goal.
There have been a few conversations about community participation, and
aside from the obvious technical issues that Shawn, Dennis, and others
have (thankfully) pointed out, I'm wondering if we ought to expand the
conversation to be more inclusive of non-code activities. Please gag
me for saying this, but do we need some sort of program to help this
issue along?
There was a brief discussion about that on this list a while back
(December 18th.), but it didn't go anywhere.
Oh, there have been several. Most only last a day or two with no real
consensus reached.
We probably need to
identify the non-code activities (excluding financial!) that could help
the project along. My only experience of opensource projects is as a
developer, anyone else here made any non-code contributions to an
opensource project?
some non-technical stuff ....
* writing docs (well, that one is pretty technical, sorry)
* writing articles/news
* evangelism (hate the term but it's obvious what it means)
* translating content to other languages
* starting and running user groups
* presenting at conferences
* teaching at universities (a bit technical, too)
* writing books (ok, technical)
* serving on governing boards
* answering questions on list
* participating on list and IRC
* writing FAQs
* blogging
* taking pictures, creating artwork, etc
We've been getting many such contributions and participation, but I'm
not sure there's been any real consensus to call attention to this stuff.
Jim
Like Dennis, I've been here since the pilot, but unlike Dennis, my
contribution has been negligible. My excuse is simply time, I have a
hungry bank manager and kids to feed, so I don't have a lot of spare
time for what amounts to 'hobby' coding. I'm sure there are many others
out here in a similar position.
Indeed there are. But all contributions should be honored.
I wasn't referring to the small contribution, but to the desire and
ability to do more.
Unlike OpenSolaris, the Linux world has a many corporations paying for
work on the kernel, drivers and applications.
Did they have that 20 months into the project? I have no clue; I'm
asking out of genuine ignorance.
I don't know either, when did the likes of Red Hat enter the Linux
arena? I think gcc has had corporate users contributing for a long time.
On one had this shows the
quality of the engineering team at Sun, but on the other it puts us at a
disadvantage. I don't think the community involvement in OpenSolaris
will grow until we have more companies willing to pay for work on the
project.
Having substantial corporate support for various development efforts
would be interesting for sure (though I have no idea what that would
look like in our case). Linux didn't grow from a company like we are.
But your point is a good one and something to look forward to as we
expand and non-Sun community members take leadership roles.
The only time I was paid to work on a Linux project was for a driver.
It's the peripheral (in both senses of the word) development that brings
people in. An audio company had designed their own sound card and chose
to run Linux in their audio server because it was free and they could
get a driver written. OpenSolaris could fill that niche today, if we
had a way of connecting potential users with the development community.
I'd like nothing better than to combine my two decades of
SunOs/Solaris and driver experience and make a real contribution to the
project, but I simply can't afford to.
I think you bring up a really good point. Sun pays me to do what I do,
and so from that perspective I'm lucky. We Sun people have to deal
with the corporate politics, though, so in that sense we are unlucky. :)
I've learned to live with the necessity of company politics, but
independent developers can just get on with the code and let the
politics flow by!
Ian
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