http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=764930


in reply to Re^5: JETTERO tries to take over Net::IMAP::Simple on PAUSE (FUD)
in thread JETTERO tries to take over Net::IMAP::Simple on PAUSE

I don't think there is so much fear around as you think.

I want to have the modules that I created and put onto CPAN in a "anybody can contribute" mode, but CPAN won't even allow me to do that.

This is confused. CPAN is the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network and is well named (Ha, how I hope I am not walking into another backronym. ). If you have the right, you can develop a codebase where, how, and with whom you like, then you can release it on CPAN.

Licenses, established practice, and courtesy are arguments against summarily grabbing some author's code off of CPAN, reworking it, and putting it back on CPAN under the same name. It is not surprising that the CPAN admins are slow to declare code abandoned and then seize it.

Be well,
rir

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^7: JETTERO tries to take over Net::IMAP::Simple on PAUSE (admins)
by tye (Sage) on May 19, 2009 at 16:47 UTC
    It is not surprising that the CPAN admins are slow to declare code abandoned and then seize it.

    It is not surprising that many choose not to contribute once they realize that contributing requires that "admins (slowly) declare code abandoned and then seize it". You nicely summarize the problem. Thank you.

    This is confused. [....] If you have the right, you can develop a codebase where, how, and with whom you like, then you can release it on CPAN.

    That seems to me to completely miss the point. Creation as the act of a single person is so very common. Maintenance is where collaboration is most useful. The ability to collaborate before submitting to the rules of the CPAN services is certainly not the problem, for multiple reasons. The need to thwart the roadblocks of CPAN services just to be able to collaborate should be seen as a problem, but, yes, we shall work around that problem.

    - tye        

      contributing requires the "admins ... declare code abandoned and the seize it"

      I assume I misunderstand you, because this strikes me as disingenuous at best. I would guess that any PAUSE author who requested that their work be taken off CPAN would have their request honored. It may provoke some comment and consternation, but given that an author may have legal issues regarding authorship I see no advantage in CPAN's noncompliance.

      I don't believe CPAN contributions require that "admins ... seize code" nor do I believe that the fear of such prevents contributions.

      CPAN is a distribution mechanism not a development tool. There is no reason to expect CPAN admins to jump to take on new tasks that have little to do with that for which they volunteered.

      When you release on CPAN, you don't have to stop developing the codebase where, how and with whom you like. I should have been clearer about the timing.

      There is nothing I see in the rules of the CPAN that you are complaining about; how is CPAN stopping you from setting up a collaborative development process for the modules in your care? You just seem to want CPAN to be something completely different than what it is.

      I like what you are proposing, I just don't see it having much to do with CPAN.

      Be well,
      rir

        I assume I misunderstand you

        It is unfortunate that you have difficulty understanding your own words when they are quoted back to you. It is true that your phrasing was somewhat ambiguous (or worse) but I chose to quote more accurately over trying to "correct" it to what I believe you actually meant (that admins allow it to be seized rather than seizing it themselves).

        I've deleted the rest of this reply that I was trying to compose as things were just going in circles. If you can't follow my point yet, then I'm convinced I won't be able to get you to follow it with another reply so I'll save everybody the time.

        Meanwhile, it doesn't sound like the CPAN admins have yet removed their roadblocks that prevent jettero from contributing (though I can't now find the latest update that I read somewhere). Meanwhile, the majority of potential contributors to CPAN never make it beyond the "become a stalker" step to the point of bothering CPAN admins much less to the point of actually contributing, disappearing completely unnoticed.

        - tye