Protocol for capturing a CPAN module
Bernie Cosell
release and I guess has been for some time. I had a suggestion or two
about an enhancement to it [and did volunteer to do it!] but I've gotten no
reply, one way or the other, from the author.
Is there some 'protocol' in CPAN for taking over a module when the author
is apparently unreachable [or not interested in it any more]? I suppose I
could just go in with _me_ as the author and release a new/separate module
based on the original code with my mods, but in that case I feel a little
awkward about doing that having just stolen all of someone else's previous
work without their involvement...
/Bernie\
--
Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers
ber...@fantasyfarm.com Pearisburg, VA
--> Too many people, too few sheep <--
Jamie McCarthy
> Is there some 'protocol' in CPAN for taking over a module when the
> author is apparently unreachable [or not interested in it any more]?
I don't know about CPAN, but see Eric S. Raymond's essay "Homesteading
the Noosphere," chapter 4, for ocmmentary on how ownership of an open
source project is historically transferred. ESR is not laying down
laws, he is observing what the tradition seems to be:
The third way to acquire ownership of a project is to observe
that it needs work and the owner has disappeared or lost
interest. If you want to do this, it is your responsibility
to make the effort to find the owner. If you don't succeed,
then you may announce in a relevant place (such as a Usenet
newsgroup dedicated to the application area) that the project
appears to be orphaned, and that you are considering taking
responsibility for it.
Custom demands that you allow some time to pass before following
up with an announcement that you have declared yourself the
new owner. In this interval, if someone else announces that
they have been actually working on the project, their claim
trumps yours. It is considered good form to give public notice
of your intentions more than once. More points for good form
if you announce in many relevant forums (related newsgroups,
mailing lists); and still more if you show patience in waiting
for replies. In general, the more visible effort you make to
allow the previous owner or other claimants to respond, the
better your claim if no response is forthcoming.
If you have gone through this process in sight of the project's
user community, and there are no objections, then you may claim
ownership of the orphaned project and so note in its history
file. This, however, is less secure than being passed the baton,
and you cannot expect to be considered fully legitimate until
you have made substantial improvements in the sight of the
user community.
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/writings/homesteading/homesteading.html
--
Jamie McCarthy
Tim Potter
> Is there some 'protocol' in CPAN for taking over a module when the author
> is apparently unreachable [or not interested in it any more]? I suppose I
> could just go in with _me_ as the author and release a new/separate module
> based on the original code with my mods, but in that case I feel a little
> awkward about doing that having just stolen all of someone else's previous
> work without their involvement...
I believe there are some security restrictions on CPAN uploads.
Specifically, only the author of a module may upload a newer version
to CPAN, so you may have to negotiate with the friendly people at
mod...@perl.org if the original maintainer cannot be found or wishes
to hand the baton over to you.
Regards,
Tim.
>
> /Bernie\
> --
> Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers
> ber...@fantasyfarm.com Pearisburg, VA
> --> Too many people, too few sheep <--
--
Tim Potter, System Admin/Programmer "Disco Stu doesn't advertise"
Advanced Computational Systems CRC, RSISE Bldg Australian National University,
Canberra 0200, AUSTRALIA Ph: +61 2 62798813 Fax: +61 2 62798602