Re: starting (open)source projects

[Jama Poulsen <jama@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I work for Atos Origin too, and manage a free software project
(partly) in their time (http://vemail.org). I always try to avoid
the term OpenSource (TM), because I value freedom more than creating
an efficient software development process (which is mostly the result
of results of the first choice).

IMHO, people who talk about OSS are still in denial about the
underlying fundamentals of this social change, carry some fear about
it, or simply need to be educated about it.

On Mon, Jan 19, 2004 at 10:54:03AM +0100, van Zantvoort, John wrote:
> I've been given a project which is rather large for a single person.

There's never an absolute, it is all relative to you're projects
strategy, coding skills, fortune, etc. ...

> To avoid beeing overwhelmed by requests for bugfixes and  "new kewl
> stuff" I was thinking about taking this project a long the same
> route as manny open source projects.

I know a person on a project (Posadis) which is downloaded thousands of
times a year, and it is still a one mans show. Does he mind? Not really.

Don't expect free help. If you're project has an appeal to a group
of people, and they are able to setup software without too much fuss,
then maybe expect someone will send you a patch or two.

Also take into consideration if there are any other projects out there
which try to solve the same problem domain as your 'package'.
I bet there is.

Investigating the (free software) market is recommended before you start
your own public savannah or sourceforge project. Perhaps only a part of
the package is interesting to develop outside of Atos Origin?
 
> This for me poses one or two problems:
>  - How do you turn a bunch of scripts and sources into a project?
>  - How do you let multiple persons write for a project (at their own
>    leasure) and still have some sort of directional control?
>  - Is there any documentation I should read regarding this?

Look around before you begin is my advice. These questions can be
answered by just looking at various projects and comparing them with
your ideas/needs.

Many technical choices will depend on the type of project you want
to start. For now your projects description is too vague to get any
specific help on code organisation, packaging, etc.

If you want, you can give me a call here at AO.

regards,

Jama Poulsen
http://debianlinux.net
http://vemail.org