Re: cdrtools

[Joerg Schilling <schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de>]

Joerg Jaspert <joerg@debian.org> wrote:

> So, how about the following (and please read it completly before you
> answer, it contains multiple options):

I am sorry, but I cannot believe that you like to make serious proposal
with the text you wrote.

Let me make a proposal that makes sense for now and the future:

1)	Throw out Eduard Bloch. He has been the biggest problem for Debian
	in the past years. Find a new maintainer with the following properties:

	-	Some basic knowledge in C

	-	Some basic knowledge in software engineering and interfaces
		between kernel and userland

	-	Some basic knowledge in CD/DVD writing

	-	Some basic knowledge in SCSI

	-	Some basic knowledge in software quality assurance

	-	Able and willing to cooperate


2)	Update to a recent cdrtools source, do not hide interesting 
	new features from Debian users and (this may be even more important to
	Linux users) workarounds for recent Linux kernel 
	self-incompatibilities. 

3)	Remove the unneeded Debian changes as the unmodified original source
	does not need any changes in order to work correctly.

4)	If someone at Debian likes to work on enhancements, make sure that
	these changes are done in a way that does not contradict the current
	planned behavior and make sure that the quality of the code is 
	sufficient to allow integreation. Read the file:
	ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/cdrecord/CONTRIBUTING
	and follow the instructions in that file.

5)	Find someone to read the original GPL text in depth who did not yet
	read the wrong FSF GPL FAQ. Let this person be prepared and willing
	to have a serious fact based discussion in case that there are still
	any issues to discuss.

6)	Find someone to read the original CDDL text in depth and in addition
	read the DFSG text. Let this person be prepared and willing to have a 
	serious fact based discussion in case that there are still problems
	to understand why the CDDL meets all requirements of the DFSG.
	Do not try to raise conditions that are not written down in the DFSG.

	Be prepared to have a serious discussion with people from Sun who
	are waiting for such a discussion and are willing to explain how the
	CDDL has to be understood.

	Try to accept that the CDDL is a first class OS license and treat it
	in the same open way as you treat the GPL and the BSDl.

7)	Finally: learn that I am spending a lot time on cdrtools and on my other
	OSS activities.

	Understand that I am neither willing to waste my time with useless
	discussions with Debian people nor being forced to give up useful
	ways of defending me against malicious users or distributors of my code.

	Believe me that it does not sound serious when reading again and again
	silly things like "we need to fork cdrecord...". I am now working
	for 10 years on cdrecord, I am now working for exactly 20 years on
	libscg and I am working for 24 years on star. Many people did claim to 
	start a fork on my tools, nobody did yet even come to a serious first
	step in this direction not speaking about serious work on extensions...


8)	Understand that all my software is highly portable and that it is not
	acceptable to chage it in a way that make them behave different on
	different platforms. 

9)	Help me with defending against silly artificial limitations in the Linux
	kernel that makes life on Linux hard.

Jörg

-- 
 EMail:joerg@schily.isdn.cs.tu-berlin.de (home) Jörg Schilling D-13353 Berlin
       js@cs.tu-berlin.de                (uni)  
       schilling@fokus.fraunhofer.de     (work) Blog: http://schily.blogspot.com/
 URL:  http://cdrecord.berlios.de/old/private/ ftp://ftp.berlios.de/pub/schily