Well, I couldn't find anything on this on the UserLand Frontier DG...


But I can't agree more, Brent. See comments inline.

BTW, I'm speaking as one of "a number of very excited, active, new
Radio-scripters in Radio-Land." (Or at least a semi-active, wanabee
Radio-scripter...;-) Not as someone claiming experience in a lot of these
issues. Also speaking as someone who didn't see the surrounding discussion
on the Frontier list.


| -----Original Message-----
| From: sm.community@lists.scriptmeridian.org
| [mailto:sm.community@lists.scriptmeridian.org]On Behalf Of Brent Simmons
| Sent: Friday, February 22, 2002 1:55 PM
| To: sm.community@lists.scriptmeridian.org
| Subject: RE: [SM] To the heart of the matter [Msg#16150]
|
|
| Read on the web at http://community.scriptmeridian.org/16150
| ----------------------------------
|
| (Disclaimer: I'm speaking for myself, not for UserLand.)
|
| I would first write a list of requirements before deciding on
| SourceForge or some alternate model.
|
| Think about things like:
|
| 1. How high should the barrier to entry be for new programmers? (For
| example, not every Frontier/Radio developer will be familiar with cvs
| or WebEdit, but most of them are probably familiar with uploading a
| file via a Web browser.)

I dunno. I don't think learning a new tool would be much of an entry
barrier, myself. But, then again, there may be an advantage to having SOME
barrier to entry, unless there's a plan to go with a model like the original
Apache Group, where people were everyone was invited to participate, but
only a few were invited as voting members of the group.

I'm looking to get more info on what kind of collaboration is being
discussed. Whether it's an ad hoc effort, a few guys getting together to
test some things (what.. I'm not exactly sure of).

Or an effort to develop an on-going value-add to the Frontier Community.


|
| 2. Do you want to develop new software for accessing the repository?
| Do you want to develop new software for hosting the repository? Or is
| there existing software that will fit the bill?

Again, I dunno. The old "make or buy" decision...

Unless there's either a near-perfect fit, or an immense rush.. I usually
tend towards building something that will be that near-perfect fit. Depends
on the project, and I don't know what's involved here sufficiently.


|
| 3. How much time is available for setting this up? In other words,
| when do you want to launch?

Ahhhh, SO...! WeedWacker...;-)


|
| 4. Is this for developers or is it for users? In other words, do you
| want to set up a way for developers to collaborate, or are you more
| interested in a way for Frontier and Radio users to find software
| (via a directory or something like that).

I'd want to know more, but currently I would see this as two separate,
related projects.


|
| 5. Pop up a level. Is a collaborative system one of the features that
| has to be in place for the ScriptMeridian re-launch?

Be a good "selling point". GREAT way to build up a critical mass quickly...

Mmmmm...

But goes back to the question of whether there's a huge rush to get this in
place.



|
| List five or so features that have to be there -- mailing list, site
| re-design, etc. Is this on that list?

Not much to offer here.



|
| If not, then what I would do is find a benevolent dictator to run the
| SuperStress project, set up a mailing list for it, and go the
| informal route. Use email. By the end of that process all the
| participants should have a much better idea of what a Frontier/Radio
| collaborative system should look like.

Sounds like it could be a good first step... A way to test the waters.

But a lot depends on who the benevolent dictator is, and I don't know the
players. Sometimes a good first step in the right direction becomes the
be-all and end-all to a large majority, and that can kill the effort to
invent a better collaborative system. Not saying that WOULD happen.. but
that it could.


Finally, I'd be EXTREMELY leary about anything to do with SourceForge,
myself. I'd learn more about it if I had to...

But I can't see the value of going with ANYTHING like this that's owned by
one single company, LEAST of all VA/Linux. (LNUX, which is currently
trading at $1.72, down from it's IPO at $277.00 per share.) I just don't
see that as a good route to take, even though it's handy and a lot of folks
use it.

Subject came up on another list I lurk on... I'm afraid I'm not real keen
on CVS in general. From the discussion I saw (which was NOT sufficient),
I'm wondering if CVS is a case of mono-culture gone bad. Maybe better is
available, or could be developed... I'm probably a trout swimming upstream
on this issue, but not having been ingrained in the *nix community, I wasn't
all that impressed with CVS and SourceForge, as some were. Again, would
need to look into it more (which I have little time for, in the near-term)
before I can state specifics on how CVS could be less than optimal. I just
have a hard time imagining that it couldn't easily be improved on.

For one thing, I think there's a fair bit of difference between being able
to check-out code, and collaborative development.

JM(NS?)HO...



|
| -Brent
|
| At 1:22 PM -0500 2/22/02, Emmanuel. M. Decarie wrote:
| >Read on the web at http://community.scriptmeridian.org/16148
| >----------------------------------
| >
| >A (At) 13:14 -0500 22/02/02, Bill Kearney ecrivait (wrote) :
| >>Uh, here's an idea, why don't we use SourceForge? Wouldn't it be
| >>better to take
| >>advantage of existing software and network infrastructure before we
| >>run around
| >>reinventing the wheel?
| >
| >I might be wrong, but I heard that CVS (on which I think SourceForge
| >is based) doesn't handle well binaries. So for Frontier/Radio roots,
| >we are toast.
| >
| >Cheers
| >-Emmanuel
| >--
| >______________________________________________________________________
| >Emmanuel Decarie / Programmation pour le Web - Programming for the Web
| >Frontier - Perl - Javascript - XML <http://scriptdigital.com/>
|
|
|
|

Enclosures

None.  

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