Am 29.08.2013 21:09, schrieb Ryan Lane:
Tools and bots are depended on by the movement to properly run. They're an extension of the infrastructure. The projects should be forkable and that includes the tools and bots that keep it running.
You're arguing to keep parts of the infrastructure closed source. To what end? How many tools are currently using closed source?
For example all my bots MerlBot, MerlLinkBot and MerlIwBot combining about 80 different tools developed in the past 6 years.
How hard would it be to modify them to use open source alternatives?
I am estimating about 150-200 hours of work. I also have to solve the problem that i know the source code of the used free but closed source libary. So according the OTI i am not allowed to write an open source replacement. The current agreed solution is that sb. from WMDE has to rewrite some parts. I am currently thinking about how to minimize this paid work.
What happens to these tools if they are abandoned?
All tools could be kept running by sb. else. The logic is open source and my framework is based on libaries which can be used for free by everybody.
How does this actively benefit the movement?
I could move my toolserver tools to tool labs immediately. Because of the open source requirement i hope that i have rewritten my tools with the help of WMDE in about 6-10 month. That's a boring and usless additional work i have to do in my free time. Instead i would prefer to write new tools or extend my existing tools because this causes much more fun for myself.
Merlissimo