[hylafax-devel] Re: Pep talk

[Darren Nickerson <darren@dazza.org>]

>>>>> On Wed, 9 Aug 2000, "Joe" == Joe Phillips wrote:

  Joe> Here's my general take on things.  I'll note that currently I am not a
  Joe> HylaFAX user but I have configured/used the server and have implemented
  Joe> the network protocol in Java.  I have followed the HylaFAX mail lists
  Joe> for a few years now.

Yes, I'm familiar with your work.

  Joe> As someone else mentioned, the website is stale.  There are many old and
  Joe> out-dated "news" items and I don't get the impression that it is very
  Joe> actively maintained.  I say this particularly because I have offered
  Joe> news items in the past that still have not made it to the site.  I
  Joe> announced my Java package that implements the HylaFAX network protocol
  Joe> to the mail lists and the webmaster.  I've seen no indication that the
  Joe> message was received.  No post on the mail list and nothing on the
  Joe> website indicating my class library as client code.

I'm sorry, I was expecting someone else on the webmaster alias, the primary, to
reply to your contribution. He's been rather absent lately, though we all do
try to put in the hours, it's a bit of a monster website to keep updated.

  Joe> To me, this is annoying.  To outsiders and newcomers this makes the mail
  Joe> list and website "quiet" possibly indicating a dead project.  They may
  Joe> think there aren't any new developments going on.  Nobody's going to get
  Joe> into a dead project.

Agreed. HylaFAX is so not dead, too! So the question is, how do we revitalise
the website? Phil Watkinson really needs to speak to this . . . he and Robert
were largely responsible for the current site, and Phil has been freshening it
a lot, just not so much lately.

  Joe> Now, as for the HylaFAX package itself.  To move forward with bug
  Joe> fixing, we need to take inventory of all bugs/problems/etc, prioritize
  Joe> them and set to fixing them one by one.  I volunteer to host a bugzilla
  Joe> database for HylaFAX if the group is ok with using that product for bug
  Joe> tracking.

I'd be happier if it were on hylafax.org machines. If I gave you access, would
you set one up (and manage it) for us? If you're interested, please contact me
out of band with your ssh public key. If you're only interested in hosting it,
that's a good fallback position. So basically, yes, let's do it.

  Joe> I suggest that we then make a "beta" release of the current CVS with the
  Joe> README pointing users to http://bugs.hylafax.org/ for problems.  Once
  Joe> bugs have been logged and categorized we can move forward and solve the
  Joe> problems.

  Joe> What does the group think?

Personally, I think your ideas are positive ones. At the end of the day, the
most crushingly absent resource is people who are sufficiently experienced to
hack on HylaFAX code. I agree, the website is an important public-facing aspect
of the project which is by now pretty stale. I welcome suggestions on how to
attrack the type of volunteer who might be able to make a difference in that
regard.

-Darren




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