[csw-users] blastwave forked?

[Dagobert Michelsen]

Hi Willie,

Am 12.09.2008 um 00:07 schrieb Willie:
> I'm speaking of things I have little knowledge of here, but  
> wouldn't it
> have been easier all round to start over with the package maintainers
> resubmitting their work to the new site? If they wanted to, that  
> is. And
> that begs the question of how many package maintainers _would_ want  
> to,
> and how they might feel about having their work swiped for a fork if
> they were happy just where they were.

Well, the existing package descriptions were also derived from
others peoples work. A lot of packages are orphaned and it is
customary to adopt a package and update it or develop it further.
In my opinion continuing work of other people is one of the core
principles of open software. It may be cleaner, yes, but IMHO
impractical and not necessary.

> The fact
> that I've still found nothing of Phil's - even after some effort -  
> that
> makes events remotely justifiable is my only reason for leaning to the
> side of blastwave.

May these few sentences describe most accurately the critical
point: It was decided to split CSW packaging from OpenSolaris
packaging under the csw subdomain. Dennis intention was to
put CSW on one of his machines, Phil put it on the Blastwave
mailserver outside of Dennis control without prior talking to
Dennis because Dennis temporarily locked the account of Phil
some time ago. Dennis considered the mailserver to be not a Blastwave
machine and removes packages and DNS information. Other
maintainers are wondering why they can't download packages or
reach the build machines and decide to set up alternative
infrastructure immediately, which includes the mailserver
formerly used for Blastwave but not owned by Dennis.
Dennis reactivates his servers.

Multiply these actions by 10 and you get what each side posts.

Dennis opinion is that hosting CSW on the Blastwave mailserver
is stealing because he doesn't control it. Phils opinion is
that the mailserver belongs to the Blastwave project and it
would be ok to host the pages there.

That was the cause. Some mixture about misunderstanding and
escalation without previous talking.

I left Blastwave because you cannot just take the mirror
down, it is irresponsible against the users, regardless of
what happened and why. It is unprofessional and destroys
trust earned in years by careful crafted packages and
destroys the work of all the maintainers who have put work
in the packages. The packages and descriptions may be
available again, but the trust is gone, and that is what
the maintainers have worked for: the stable-release you
can rely on in a production environment. It will take
quite some time (if at all) we reach that point again,
on any side.


Best regards

   -- Dago