Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Future of rdiff-backup: Python 3 migration and project maintainership in general

[Patrik Dufresne]

Hi,

> 2. I've never wanted this project to be a one person show: I don't want
the sole burden and if you've looked at the commit history, that was
probably the main issue in the past.
> 3. That's why I liked the idea from Patrick, with a dedicated project, we
can easily share responsibility. With whom is another discussion.

Might not be easy at first to organise people from around the world to take
ownership of a single project. But it certainly doable. On the long term it
should benefit to rdiff-backup to have more active people working on it.
Cause as of today, if the maintainer is going away, nothing is moving. That
why I would prefer to have a pool of developers that are interest to work
on rdiff-backup or various part of it. The principle should be relatively
easy to but in place. We have this way of working on another project.
1. A developer is creating a branch on the project and then submit a merge
request
2. To be merged into master, we need two different developer to accept the
merge request.
This way of working, we don't have a single key player driving the show,
knowledge transfer is very good too. Nothing is blocked when someone goes
away for a short or long period. This as been working with a pool of 4-6
developers.

> My times as Debian maintainer are long gone (Freemind, Freeplane and a
few other packages) but Debian isn't known for changing fast ;-)

On the long run we should certainly re-visit the way rdiff-backup is
release (deb, rpm, pypi).

--
Patrik Dufresne Service Logiciel inc.
http://www.patrikdufresne.com <http://patrikdufresne.com/>/
514-971-6442
130 rue Doris
St-Colomban, QC J5K 1T9


On Sun, Jul 28, 2019 at 3:22 AM EricZolf <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> After months of work alone for the project, the statement without
> arguments that someone else seems more qualified, is quite hurtful.
>
> Anyway, I didn't find the time come for personal discussions, but let's go
> then:
>
> 1. I don't deny any qualification to Otto but I don't know him and wanted
> to see how he's acting before making any suggestion and entrusting him my
> work. Hence the time hadn't come.
> 2. I've never wanted this project to be a one person show: I don't want
> the sole burden and if you've looked at the commit history, that was
> probably the main issue in the past.
> 3. That's why I liked the idea from Patrick, with a dedicated project, we
> can easily share responsibility. With whom is another discussion.
>
> Now, speaking of more doing and less talking: I drafted a plan in another
> sub thread, and I'd like to get it refined, agreed and acted upon.
>
> Thanks, Eric
>
> PS: Speaking of saving the Debian package, it's also important but it
> should be enough for Otto to claim ownership to suspend removal. My times
> as Debian maintainer are long gone (Freemind, Freeplane and a few other
> packages) but Debian isn't known for changing fast ;-)
>
> On July 28, 2019 4:47:51 AM UTC, Dave Kempe <address@hidden> wrote:
> >Hey All,
> >Firstly, speaking for Sol1, we apologise for the crappy job we have
> >done maintaining the project. We had hope to devote more resources to
> >it, however the coder we had in mind fell through, and our existing
> >staff had too many other responsibilities to take up the load.
> >Nevertheless, we still use rdiff-backup and have an interest in seeing
> >it succeed. So, I'm in favour of Otto taking over, given he seems more
> >qualified, however I would like Eric's work to be tested and included
> >of course.
> >
> >We had attempted to move the pages to github pages, and are happy to
> >have an independent github repo. I will do anything we can to help
> >transition it to a new maintainer, and I'm keen to see it survive in
> >Debian.
> >I actually have a new Python coder joining Sol1 from tomorrow, so this
> >might be his first task - assist with the transition.
> >
> >I would like to thank everyone who continues to use and support
> >rdiff-backup, and particularly Eric Zolf, who has put in some serious
> >coding time to get Python3 support happening recently.
> >
> >Please let me know what I can do to help.
> >
> >Dave Kempe
> >
> >> From: "Patrik Dufresne" <address@hidden>
> >> To: "Dale E. Qualls" <address@hidden>
> >> Cc: "Rdiff Backup" <address@hidden>
> >> Sent: Saturday, 27 July, 2019 7:57:44 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Future of rdiff-backup: Python 3
> >migration and
> >> project maintainership in general
> >
> >> Hi Otto,
> >
> >> I'm the software developer behind rdiffweb and Minarca (with a new
> >release
> >> to be coming soon with self-hosted feature). While I have not
> >contribute
> >> alot to rdiff-backup, I want to contribute to add new feature to make
> >> rdiffweb and Minarca better and faster. As of now, it's relatively
> >hard for
> >> me:
> >> 1. Pull request are not merged
> >> 2. Many patches release 10 year ago are still not in master !
> >> 3. I don't see any automated build put in place for master. I
> >recently
> >> build a CICD pipeline on my own to fix a bug on Windows.
> >> https://git.patrikdufresne.com/pdsl/rdiff-backup-build
> >
> >> From my understanding sol1 was taking the maintainer-ship of the
> >project,
> >> they have done some preliminary work, but nothing serious in term of
> >> release or pull request. Which is a bit disappointing.
> >
> >> If we plan to have yet another maintainer, I would love if we can
> >avoid
> >> making the same mistake again. rdiff-backup is an opensource project
> >and
> >> many people from various companies (including mine) have insensitive
> >to
> >> work on it. People are coming and leaving relatively fast and moving
> >> everything to a different repository every time doesnt' seams to be
> >the
> >> solution. I would recommend to create a new repository which is not
> >related
> >> to any companies. Let name it "rdiff-backup". So basically, something
> >> acessible from https://github.com/rdiff-backup/rdiff-backup or
> >similar. And
> >> let have people from various place be the maintainers with a code
> >review
> >> process or something similar.
> >> That should allow everyone to have a relatively stable place where to
> >look
> >> for the rdiff-backup source code instead of guessing the branches as
> >of
> >> today.
> >
> >> Would also love to see the website taken down and migrated to github
> >wiki
> >> or github pages.
> >
> >> As of now, I'm relatively busy working on Minarca and rdifweb. I have
> >no
> >> time to work on rdiff-backup but I will soon turn my attention on it.
> >
> >> Before moving forward with this, I would appreciate to have feedback
> >from
> >> sol1. After all they are the maintainer today.
> >
> >> --
> >> Patrik Dufresne Service Logiciel inc.
> >> http://www.patrikdufresne.com <http://patrikdufresne.com/>/
> >> 514-971-6442
> >> 130 rue Doris
> >> St-Colomban, QC J5K 1T9
> >
> >> On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 1:10 PM Dale E. Qualls <address@hidden>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> > Agreed and "starred".
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> > [http://images.pattishall.com/images/pattishalllogo.jpg]
> >
> >> > Dale E. Qualls
> >> > Director of Information Technology
> >> > Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson LLP
> >> > 200 South Wacker Drive, Suite 2900
> >> > Chicago, IL 60606-5896
> >> > Direct: (312) 554-7979 Main: (312) 554-8000 Fax: (312) 554-8015
> >> > address@hidden<mailto:address@hidden> www.pattishall.com<
> >> > http://www.pattishall.com> Follow us on Twitter<
> >> > http://www.twitter.com/Pattishall>
> >
> >
> >
> >> > [http://images.pattishall.com/images/25pixelimage.gif] [
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> >
> >> > ________________________________
> >> > The preceding message and any attachments may contain confidential
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> >You may
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> >> > ________________________________
> >> > From: rdiff-backup-users [mailto:rdiff-backup-users-bounces+deq=
> >> > address@hidden] On Behalf Of Dominic Raferd
> >> > Sent: Friday, July 26, 2019 12:06 PM
> >> > To: address@hidden
> >> > Subject: Re: [rdiff-backup-users] Future of rdiff-backup: Python 3
> >> > migration and project maintainership in general
> >
> >
> >> > External email, exercise caution.
> >
> >
> >
> >> > On Fri, 26 Jul 2019, 17:37 Otto Kekäläinen, <address@hidden>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> > > Hello!
> >
> >> > > There has not been any new releases of rdiff-backup since 2009.
> >If the
> >> > > original maintainer does not intend to work on this project,
> >could I
> >> > > please be allowed to take over?
> >
> >> > > I am a Debian Developer and active in multiple open source
> >projects.
> >> > > Our company supports many open source projects
> >(seravo.com/opensource<
> >> > http://seravo.com/opensource>)
> >> > > and since we also use rdiff-backup, I could get some funding and
> >man
> >> > > power to for example complete the Python3 migration. I know
> >Python
> >> > > well and have recently contributed Python code to AppArmor
> >upstream,
> >> > > so I think I am technically competent. With 20 years of open
> >source
> >> > > experience I believe I can be a good steward this project.
> >
> >> > > Rdiff-backup is marked for autoremoval from Debian on August 8th.
> >I
> >> > > hope we could get some responses and activity on this soon so I
> >have a
> >> > > chance to save rdiff-backup in Debian.
> >> > > https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/rdiff-backup<
> >> > https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/rdiff-backup>
> >
> >> > > That do you think?
> >
> >> > > If you are in favor of this please let me know by starring
> >> > > https://github.com/Seravo/rdiff-backup<
> >> > https://github.com/Seravo/rdiff-backup>
> >
> >> > > If I get more than 5 stars I will begin the Python 3 migration
> >and
> >> > > also pulling in the best commits from the existing forks that
> >have had
> >> > > most activity:
> >> > > - https://github.com/ericzolf/rdiff-backup<
> >> > https://github.com/ericzolf/rdiff-backup>
> >> > > - https://github.com/ardovm/rdiff-backup<
> >> > https://github.com/ardovm/rdiff-backup>
> >> > > - https://github.com/hosting90/rdiff-backup<
> >> > https://github.com/hosting90/rdiff-backup>
> >> > > - https://github.com/orangenschalen/rdiff-backup<
> >> > https://github.com/orangenschalen/rdiff-backup>
> >> > > (see https://github.com/sol1/rdiff-backup/network<
> >> > https://github.com/sol1/rdiff-backup/network>)
> >
> >
> >> > > - Otto
> >
> >
> >> > Sounds great to me. Rdiff- backup remains a really useful tool so I
> >would
> >> > welcome it being given a new lease of life.
> >
> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > rdiff-backup-users mailing list at address@hidden
> >> > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users<
> >> > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users>
> >> > Wiki URL:
> >> >
> >http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/RdiffBackupWiki<
> >> >
> >http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/RdiffBackupWiki>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > rdiff-backup-users mailing list at address@hidden
> >> > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users
> >> > Wiki URL:
> >> > http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/RdiffBackupWiki
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users
> >> Wiki URL:
> >http://rdiff-backup.solutionsfirst.com.au/index.php/RdiffBackupWiki
> >_______________________________________________
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>
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