[arc-discuss] [osol-discuss] Project planning and ARC/no-ARC integration (was "was Alpine, now Exim...")

[James Carlson]

Dennis Clarke writes:
> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 5:21 PM, James Carlson <james.d.carlson at sun.com> wrote:
> >  I think "FOSS" is a red herring here.
> >
> >  The problem is with projects that duplicate effort, no matter how they
> >  do it or where they find the source or what license it may have.
> 
> ahhh well now. You can not stop duplication. It happens and if you
> reach into far flung places with your OS then you will get people all
> over the place duplicating stuff. No way to stop that really.

Knowing, intentional duplication is one thing.

What the previous poster was concerned about was _unintentional_
duplication -- i.e., two people trying to port over the same bit of
FOSS because they don't know about each other's work.  That's just a
waste of time, and should be relatively easy to detect and correct.

Nobody can stop "far flung" duplication.  But those projects that
participate in ARC review (and intentionally follow ARC-early,
ARC-often) get some protection against the same thing happening within
the confines of OpenSolaris.  As long as others are playing the same
game, of course.

A dashboard would provide even better awareness of what's going on,
and would potentially offer a way to fix problems (like "stuck"
project teams) that the ARC does not and cannot solve.

> >  If it's a secret project, there'll be no announcement.  I think that,
> >  as an OpenSolaris matter, "secret" projects are on their own.  I wish
> >  'em luck, but I see no need or reason for the community to coordinate
> >  any of its effort with anyone who isn't part of the community.
> 
> well gee ... you can always hold the door open and let them walk in.
> If they choose to not walk in .. they may still be a community member.
> Not sure how you define community.

If they're working in secret, I don't think the open community on
opensolaris.org owes them a quarter.

> >  Given that we have no such repository, I think establishing the
> >  repository in question (and the rules that govern it) is probably the
> >  first important task.  It's hard to say what the expectation might be
> >  for a process that doesn't exist.
> 
> I may have some input there.

Have at it; it's not the sort of issue I have the time or expertise to
solve.

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <james.d.carlson at sun.com>
Sun Microsystems / 35 Network Drive        71.232W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757   42.496N   Fax +1 781 442 1677