Calling all open source developers

[Richard Gaskin]

Peter Alcibiades wrote:

 > Open source is not about what it runs on.  The main point of
 > open source is that the source code shall be available, and
 > modification of it shall be permitted as long as those
 > modifications are also put back.  Its the modification issue
 > that matters here, the practical effect on the ability to
 > modify of the use of a proprietary language and IDE.

No code is an island.

Every line of code written in any language is dependent on many other
components.  In the Win and OS X worlds, where many good FOSS projects 
live, most of those components are not open source.

All FOSS software written for OS X and Windows fails the same purity
test which would reject Rev, as do interactions with most third-party
drivers like those from ATI, Nvidia, HP, etc.

Moreover, even GNU Linux itself fails this purity test by relying on
proprietary BIOS and using a proprietary chip instruction set.

Here's how the presumably "approved" and "not approved" models stack up 
for the Rev world:


    "Purist-approved" FOSS model on OS X and Win:

    ---------------------
    |    Your Scripts   |
    ---------------------
    |   Rev Libraries   |
    ---------------------
    |     Rev Engine    |          modifiable
    --------------------- ---------------------------
    |  Display Drivers  |       not modifiable
    ---------------------
    |   Print Drivers   |
    ---------------------
    |  Operating System |
    ---------------------
    |        BIOS       |
    ---------------------
    |     Processor     |
    ---------------------


    "Purist-disapproved" FOSS model on OS X and Win:

    ---------------------
    |    Your Scripts   |
    ---------------------
    |   Rev Libraries   |          modifiable
    --------------------- ---------------------------
    |     Rev Engine    |       not modifiable
    ---------------------
    |  Display Drivers  |
    ---------------------
    |   Print Drivers   |
    ---------------------
    |  Operating System |
    ---------------------
    |        BIOS       |
    ---------------------
    |     Processor     |
    ---------------------


Not a huge difference by any measure.

If we measure this in lines of source, the difference between the top 
and bottom for Mac and Win FOSS projects might be around 2%.

If we were to characterize contributions to a program by frequency of 
executed call, even GNU Linux might find itself dependent on proprietary
code most of the time, since nearly everything it does is compiled to 
native machine code using the proprietary Intel instruction set.


 > ...
 > Look, here is a practical example.  There are quite a few things
 > in Rev for Linux that are just broken.  Printing for instance.
 > Suppose I write and distribute an app under the GPL.  Done in
 > Python, someone who is really irritated with this can modify Python
 > itself, then fix the app.  It may be unlikely, but this possibility,
 > and the power of forking Python, is part of what makes OSS developers
 > responsive.  Done in Rev, the same person basically has no recourse
 > except to wait, as I am waiting patiently, for 4.0.

Both Windows and OS X ship with thousands of known bugs which cannot be 
addressed by the user.  How does the principle that exempts them not 
also apply to systems like Rev?


 > If Edinburgh falls victim to a giant tsunami down the Firth of Forth
 > then, like KDE with Trolltech, the powers of the GPL license holder
 > to my app are in practice very limited.  There is a real point here.

An important point indeed, but it's not specific to FOSS projects. That 
would affect everyone, even (if not especially) developers of 
proprietary commercial products.

When the engine was maintained by MetaCard Corp. there was the option of 
a code escrow.  Very few licensees took advantage of that as it was, as 
you can imagine, quite expense.  But the availability of such an option 
put a lot of minds at rest.

Does anyone here know if RunRev Ltd. offers a code escrow option?

Perhaps Kevin could chime in here and discuss options for the code base 
in a SHTF scenario.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  Rev training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for Rev developers: http://www.revjournal.com
  revJournal blog: http://revjournal.com/blog.irv