Re: bioinfo package - maintenance of ...

[Alois Schloegl]

On 2017-12-27 21:19, Olaf Till wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 27, 2017 at 12:20:28AM +0100, Alois Schloegl wrote:
>> On 2017-12-26 23:53, Julien Bect wrote:
>>> Le 26/12/2017 à 22:05, Alois Schloegl a écrit :
>>>> It seems there are no further objections on me taking the role as
>>>> maintainer of the bioinfo package.
>>>>
>>>> As discussed, this package will be maintained under a coding
>>>> style that is compatible to Octave AND Matlab. Both, Octave
>>>> and Matlab, are target platforms. If the code does not run
>>>> correctly on any of the target platforms, it is considered a bug.
>>>
>>> Hi Alois,
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, it seems to me that there *are* objections.  Indeed, the
>>> current OF admins are Olaf Till and Oliver Heimlich, and :
>>>
>>> 1) Oliver seems to think that the package should be maintained in
>>> "Octave style" (*) unless it is placed in the "external group".
>>>
>>> 2) Olaf seems to think that the package should be in the "community"
>>> group (**).
>>>
>>> Good luck with the negotiations ;-))
>>>
>>> @++
>>> Julien
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> (*) which, apparently, means using # instead of % among other things.
>>>
>>> (**) however, to this day, no one in the community actually cared enough
>>> about this package to actually maintain it...
>>>
>>
>>
>> I thought I've given enough reasons.
>> Oliver, Olaf, do you still have objections ?
> 
> You've repeatedly given your reasons. We understand them. I already
> told you that.
> 
> Oliver and me have given you reasons for our point of view. You have
> ignored them in your later posts.
> 


Olaf,

I did not ignore them, but it seems besides the point. You mentioned
already that you see the need for code duplication. I'd prefer a model
that avoids this.

Your offer of converting my code to octave-only coding style is  a
non-offer as it would make the code unusable for an important target
group. My code runs already in octave and is licensed with GPL, your
statements still do not explain why you insist on octave-only coding style.

> I value the reasons given by Oliver and me higher than the reasons
> given by you.

>From Olivers options, only option 1a) (external package) seems to come
close what I can contribute. Still, it is not clear what an "external
package" constitues of, it seems it means code duplication.

What I understand is that Oliver and You seem to emphasize the
"octave-only" coding style that is incompatible with Matlab.

> 
> Oliver and me have given some ideas on how to proceed. 

You mean your suggestion about code duplication ? You know that you
suggest a fork ?

> You've just
> done the contrary now, although we already objected to it.
> 
> Given this style of (non)co-operation, I think it unlikely that you
> will become the maintainer of a package in the "community" group. 


I've followed the rules asking on this list for taking the role of a
maintainer on this list. Non-cooperation would certainly be something
else. Getting no answer for 7 days from you as an "admin" of OF is
something I consider a non-cooperation.

(Actually, I assumed your silence means that you understand and accept
my reasoning, now I've learned I was wrong.)


> Even more since you seem to be determined not to follow Octave coding
> style.

This sounds like there is no possibility for me to maintain bioinfo
package within OF.

I've not decided yet, but most likely I'll set up a fork on github.
fast-export [1] seems to do a good-enough job of converting a mercurial
repository to git.

   Alois


[1] https://github.com/frej/fast-export



P.S.: For eight years, You had the chance do something about the bioinfo
package, only now - when I declare interest - you insist on maintaining
it ? Why do you find some other unmaintained OF package to work on ?
There seem to be plenty available [2].

    actuarial
    ad
    ann
    audio
    benchmark
    bioinfo
    civil-engineering
    engine
    fenv
    fl-core
    gnuplot
    informationtheory
    integration
    irsa
    mechanics
    missing-functions
    multicore
    nlwing2
    nnet
    oct2mat
    octcdf
    octgpr
    odebvp
    outliers
    pdb
    plot
    simp
    specfun
    special-matrix
    symband
    tcl-octave
    xraylib
    zenity

[2] https://octave.sourceforge.io/packages.php#unmaintained