Movable Python to Go Open Source? Maybe...
fuzz...@voidspace.org.uk
Movable Python to Go Open Source? Maybe...
Having Movable Python as a commercial product, rather than Open Source, has been an interesting experiment for me.
Movable Python started as an idea for testing standalone applications. I thought it would be nice to have a 'generic' standalone Python so that I didn't have to recompile scripts with py2exe every time I made a change I wanted to test. It also turned out to be really useful for a machine that I couldn't install Python on.
When I released the first version of Movable Python on sourceforge, it quickly had several thousand downloads and I spent quite a lot of time fixing problems that other people were finding. In all the time it was open source, and used by a lot of people, I only had one donation.
At the time I had lots of ideas for improving Movable Python, but was annoyed that so few people (who seemed to be using it) were prepared to contribute either there own time or any money for the effort I put in. Welcome to Open Source I guess. 
Since being a commercial product, Movable Python has been purchased by a few hundred people and I've enjoyed the feedback I've had from users. Unfortunately I'm not now able to devote as much time as I would like to the next round of improvements. It also seems that having Movable Python free would be good for the Python community, for example for creating generic PyGame executables.
What I have decided to do, is to release Movable Python as Open Source after the next 500 pounds worth of sales. That is either one hundred sales of a standard distribution, or thirty-nine mega-packs, or some combination of the two.
Additionally, 20% of the proceeds will be donated to the Python Software Foundation and 20% to the One Laptop Per Child project. After paypal fees, that will be about half the money.
I will release, subject to a BSD License:
- The 'compiler', which allows you to build custom distributions
- The source to the runtime and user interface
- The pre-built distributions
So now, if you buy Movable Python you will be helping move it become open source as well as contributing to the PSF and OLPC. As well as being a good way of making some contribution to two worthy projects, it is also a nice way to bring this 'commercial phase' of Movable Python to a close.
Once it is Open Source, it should prove easier to port the compiler and runtime (much of which is portable - pun intended I'm afraid) to other platforms.
Movable Python can be purchased from:
On the vague offchance that anyone who already has Movable Python wishes to contribute, or you would like to donate more than the nominal cost, my PayPal address is:
michael@voidspace.org.uk
The reasons why I am not just releasing it as Open Source immediately include that it really has been a lot of work (their are a lot of workarounds in the runtime to fix issues) and I'm not currently using it, and also to try and avoid annoying those who have recently paid. So, if you are interested in trying Movable Python, you now have to make the trade-off of either contributing to its release, or waiting for it to happen anyway (which will probably be a few months and of course will take longer if you do that)...
Anyway, I'll keep you updated as to how it is going.
Posted by Fuzzyman on 2007-05-31 14:30:00.
Categories:
Python, Projects
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