Re: [Phpgroupware-developers] jscalendar

[Dave Hall]

Hi,

This and a couple of other message I tried sending earlier we rejected
by the GNU mail server as they contained apprently SoBig - untrue.  So
lets try again.

----- Original Message -----
>From   Dave Hall <address@hidden>
Date    Sun, 24 Aug 2003 19:37:05 +0000 (GMT)
To      address@hidden
Subject         Re: [Phpgroupware-developers] jscalendar

Hi Lars (and all),

Lars Kneschke <address@hidden> wrote:

> address@hidden schrieb:
> >hey,
> >we droped the jscalendar from our cvs tree again, maybe temporarily.
> >the
> >reason is they do not use the lgpl but changed the lgpl licensing
> >notice
> >by adding some aditional notice.
>
> We are moving in the wrong direction!
>

I agree that things are not moving in the right direction. I think many
of our contributors (which I note are thin on the ground atm), are
frustrated with project. This frustration is being expressed through
petty fights and personality clashes. This is not good for the project.
 We need to pull together, work together and try to get back on track - IMO!

We have been planning on releasing 0.9.16RC1 since March iirc. I want
to get this out the door, so we can move forward. This should create
some new momentum around the project, draw in new blood and new ideas.
I hope it does, because if it doesn't the project will continue to be a
pretty lonely place.

I know the above sounds a bit OT, but I think all of these issues are
inter related. Maybe I am wrong?

> Today it is more important for our project to have the right
> license then
> producing code. This is something that makes me really unhappy!!!
>

No, I don't think the license is more important than the code. I think
code, docs, support, licenses and all other contributions should all
carry equal weight. We are a GNU project and so we must not only do the
right thing, we must be seen to do the right thing.

> Ralf imported the source, integrated it into phpGroupware, many
> people were
> happy with that feature, but because the developer appended some
> littleclause the work gets destroyed.

It is my understanding that this clause makes the licensing of this code
 unclear. I do not want to have a situation like the api
class.validator.inc.php again. All code in cvs should be GPL. Or in
certain cases GPL compatiable - if discussed before hand. In the case
of jscal it is not GPL compatiable so can't be used.

>
> This something i can't understand! Why can't we simply contatct the
> developer of this class and tell him about the problem. If he
> changes the
> statement the class can stay, if not we need to remove the class.

I have done this and await a response. If the response is favourable,
then we can reimport it. Until this is done, it can not go in our cvs tree.

>
> I know that it is important to have a look at the license(see SCO
> againstIBM/Linux/GPL),

This is another important reason for checking headers of every file we
import. As we are a GNU project and utilise GNU infrastructure we can
leave the FSF open to litigation if we breach copyright. I think it
would be an insult to the FSF if we ignored these implications of such
ignorance.

> but the way our leaders(wo are the project
> leaderscurrently????)

I would like to arrange elections very soon. Due to my month off
travelling some of these issues slipped down the list. As it stands at
the moment only half the people who have CVS access will be able to
nominate/vote in the elections as they have assigned copyright to the FSF.

> are doing, shows no respect for the work of
> other people.

I respect everyone's contribution to the project. At the same time I
hope all contributors respect each other and the basic guidelines we
have in place. I am not a huge fan of rules, but without some basic
rules things decend into bullsh!t very quickly.

>
> I'm i the only one who feels like this?

Unfortunately - nope

I have personally taken on resolving the licensing of this code, and
applying interim fixes until this is sorted out. I will also be
commting a fix for class.validator.inc.php later today - if i can get
the last few bugs out of it.

Lets not look at the glass and argue over if it is half full or empty -
let work together to see what else the glass could be used for :)

Cheers

Dave

dave.hall.vcf
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