Re: GNUstep SoftWare Index - new project home and sources of the tool

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 07.01.2011 um 18:45 schrieb Philippe Roussel:

> Hi
> 
> Le vendredi 07 janvier 2011 à 18:14 +0100, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller a
> écrit :
>> Hi,
>> GNUstep is such a mature project that every idea is already implemented at
>> least once (and sometimes not very good). There is not only the Software 
>> Index
>> but a Application Wiki. Please see here:
>> 
>>      http://wiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Category:Applications
>> 
>> So we have different solutions for different requirement priorities. A wiki 
>> is good for
>> collaborative editing while a dedicated tool like SWI is better in keeping 
>> things
>> well structured.
> 
> Well, if I may, it also means duplication of effort and stale data. In
> the wiki SimpleAgenda is at version 0.41, 0.38 in the software index. I
> know I could do something about it but why should I have to ?

Because you have two different type of users out there. One is preferring to 
read
a Wiki and the other is preferring a List like SWI. It is like companies are 
announcing
their new products on radio, on TV in magazines, by postal mailing, by 
bulk-email etc.

Each one could be sufficient to reach 100% of world population...

>> Am 07.01.2011 um 17:59 schrieb Banlu Kemiyatorn:
>> 
>>> On Fri, Jan 7, 2011 at 11:54 PM, Ivan Vučica <ivucica@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On the other hand, having specialized software means tight control over 
>>>> form
>>>> over resulting displayed page; every page will look the same, and hence 
>>>> mean
>>>> the entire database is easier to browse.
>>>> Wiki-templates are not a solution :-)
>>> 
>>> Why using wiki template didn't allow every page to look the same?
>>> And if it really is the case, Wiki bot would easily do the job.
>> 
>> Maybe, you can set up some bot that reads out the Software Index and updates
>> the Application Wiki?
> 
> Or the other way around ? Who will decide what should be updated by a
> human being ?

That one does not work for technical reasons. The SWI is well structured for
automatic processing while for a Wiki you may need natural language processing
or semantical network analysis to extract any useful information.

And, the author (or any user) of a application decides what to put in the SWI.
So you can view SWI as a feed publication platform. You write messages that
get published in a New-Software-Versions-Feed (in HTML, RSS or PList format).

The PLIst format (http://www.gnustep.org/softwareindex/plist.php) could allow to
write a Software Installer application that scans a GNUstep installation and 
looks
for updates. And can fetch and install them. I just wonder how that could be 
done
with a Wiki approach.

> I'm sorry but I think GNUstep's main weakness is it's lack of man power
> and I don't think this is helping...

What do you mean with "this" in "this is not helping"? 

I may get it wrong but if this discussion is becoming a discussion about SWI
and/or WIki and their benefits or problems I see this as not helping. They are
marketing and convenience tools around GNUstep.

SWI is existing and not a new effort. The Application Wiki is existing and not
a new effort. Each one has its users and contributors. We don't invest much time
in any of them that is missing elsewhere...

Nikolaus