Alex, Heinz,
I did not start this thread with any intent of accusation toward
x2go. I merely went looking for the source code and when I could not
find it I then asked on the list for the locations of all the source
code. There was no clear statement I could find on the project that said:
==> here is a link to all the source code for the project.
So I asked the question. Then there were other posts that made
statements about collaboration was not a priority for the project maybe
and so I clarified that that was fine but since the project was linking
NX GPL-v2 libraries that the source needed to be readily available. And
I had already experienced other projects that were not honoring GPL so I
commented about the GPL. Heinz then you responded with information as
to where to find the source code which I checked and found the source
for the plugin was not in any of the source trees provided so I asked
where was the source for the plugin. At this point further posts were
coming in and there appeared some confusion as to the term open source
and the licensing and I have seen this for many many years so I wrote a
short writeup on the topic. I have some background in open source
having been involved in over two dozen open source projects over the
years. So then we see a post about "open core" which many people
currently view as undermining open source so I provided clarification on
the subject and a link to a recent article discussing the implications
of this idea.
All of this whole thread could actually have been avoided if the
project would have set out some clear statements regarding the conduct
of the project (open source, open core, closed source, etc.), the
licenses that were involved, the location of the complete source
repository (git/svn/bzr etc.), the involvement of the community, and a
roadmap for where the project was going. Ever single open source
project I have been involved with to date has had these available from
the earliest days of the project. And this project is several years old
currently and still there are not these things. Now would be a good
time to spend a day or two and create these things.
After having reviewed the project for a while now it is obvious that
you guys are very talented as far as writing code. To be sure the
project still has bugs, but overall the various pieces perform rather
well together. And it is also clear that you have put a great deal of
work toward the project. And having written code for many years in many
languages I know what it takes to create and organize software projects
such as this. And I can fully appreciate the level of effort that it
has taken to write this amount of code from a small team. I think now
though it is time to open the door so to speak and let the community
help drive the software forward. You should be the conductor of the
orchestra now and not just playing the instruments. And yes, this
software is your creation, but it stands on the shoulders of other open
source and it is time to open it up completely so that others may freely
contribute to it. To that end there needs to be a "forge" involved.
Something like Launchpad or SourceForge with all its features fully
enabled. Bug tracker, source repository, collaboration tools, all this
is needed and is simple to acquire on one of the forges.
Lastly, if this project is truly a 100% open source project you will
find me one of your biggest proponents. And I want to thank both of you
for all of the fine work that has been done on the project so far. You
have had some very early supporters like the Linux4Africa that have been
able to employ the software in a large environment. And that is a
testament to the usefulness of the software. And now there are others
in a growing open source community that are experimenting with the
software and trying to see if it will fit their needs. And so
structuring the project to allow greater participation will do nothing
but help both the software and you two guys. People will always need
and pay for the assistance of the core developers in enterprise
deployments. And as the software strengthens you will see many requests
come in for your consultation. It is always important that the core
developers should be supported financially in any open source project so
that there is guaranteed continuance of the software knowledge base.
And I wish you great success in that regard. Just let us help you.
Regards,
Gerry
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