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

[EricZolf]

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
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>> > http://www.pattishall.com> Follow us on Twitter<
>> > http://www.twitter.com/Pattishall>
>
>
>
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>Ranks
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>
>> > ________________________________
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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.
>
>
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > 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>
>
>
>
>
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > https://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/rdiff-backup-users
>> > Wiki URL:
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