[OT] Re: CVS Access Lists WAS Re: [PD-dev] sourceforge tarball problem

[Chris McCormick]

On Thu, Nov 07, 2002 at 01:07:39AM +0100, Bryan Jurish wrote:
> 
> good morning,
> 
> my two cents, see below...
> 
> On 6 November 2002 at 21:13:28, _-?-_ wrote:
>  >  |On Wed, 6 Nov 2002, guenter geiger wrote:
>  >  |>
>  >  |> Also, it would be really great if those who are working on OSX, or
>  >  |> those who encounter problems with compiling/using the externals could
>  >  |> participate actively, by either becoming a developer, or by asking
>  >  |> at the list to add there changes.
>  >  |>
>  >  |
>  >  |I will be working on Linux-PowerPC and OS X so I would love to contribute
>  >  |fixes for things.  My hesitation comes from not wanting to step on
>  >  |people's toes or make changes to someone's externals without them approving.
>  > 
>  > these considerations are polite but have to be put aside when you want
>  > to actually change something (like a file). ;)
>  > 
>  > some changes (like adding ifdefs ) can be done i think
>  > without the original authors approval?
>  > 
>  > if you re going to completey change what a given function does, maybe
>  > this should be negotiated.
>  > 
> 
> yup, yup, and also yup -- provided the external is being
> actively maintained, which assumedly it is, if someone put it
> into cvs in the first place...
> 
> i haven't yet heard of any "malicious" (undeclared) changes
> to anyone's code in the cvs tree -- (the only thing that comes
> close is my own oops in creating a badly-named external, and the
> resultant dead directory); in short, i think we can rely on
> convention and consideration on the part of external developers
> that no one will actually go and alter someone else's code
> without at least first asking...

[perhaps stating the obvious]
Infact, I'd say that the whole basis of open source development is about social protocols rather than programatic protocols. Anyone
could take the sources to the Linux kernel or Pd and rename it to "McCormix" or "unpure-data" a lot like what happened with Xemacs.
But as long as the project has good maintainership like Miller or Linus provide, people will continue to follow correct social
protocol and defer their additions/modifications of the source to that central maintainer.
In a way this is the perfect blend of democracy and socialism. If only we could design the code of governance and law in the same way
maybe we'd live in a utopia. That or total anarchy, which might be just as fun.
[/perhaps]

Regards,

Chris.

_________________________________
chris at mccormick.cx
http://www.mccormick.cx
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