[GNUnet-developers] my intro & breaking up GNUnet packages into pieces....

[seberino]

Hello!  I am a new fan of GNUnet who would like to introduce himself
and had a question.  I am a physicist by training who knows
math well and does crypto software work for the Navy as
a civil servant.  I hope to be a valuable contributor to the
GNUnet project.  I am currently interested in helping
with documentation.

A question I'd like to discuss is this.  What are the pros
and cons and concerns of splitting up GNUnet into well
defined pieces?  I've talked with Christian briefly about this.

There are concerns multiple packages will make installation
more difficult.  There are also concerns different
platforms and situations may need different pieces so where
to draw the lines?  There was also concern about how
to keep different packages compatible as they evolve independently.

One benefit of lots of small packages would be that it would
be obvious GNUnet is a framework and not just a file sharing system.
It would also be easier to a newcomer to just take the piece
he needs and integrate it into his app.

Perhaps by thinking hard about this we can find a way to make
this work if it is possible and desired.

Imagine this: Lots of innovative people all over the world
creating awesome software on top of a 'gnunet-core' package.
Because gnunet-core installs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux,
they know that there will be
no portability problems.  Life is easy and GNUnet achieves
world domination.

Questions? Comments?

Chris

_______________________________________

Christian Seberino, Ph.D.
SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego
Code 2872
49258 Mills Street, Room 158
San Diego, CA 92152-5385
U.S.A.

Phone: (619) 553-9973
Fax  : (619) 553-6521
Email: address@hidden
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