[Info-vax] Open Source on OpenVMS - A Progress Report

[Phillip Helbig---remove CLOTHES to reply]

In article
<5fa0f25e-6f55-4f8a-ae61-3c3afab7673a at 31g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>,
BillPedersen <pedersen at ccsscorp.com> writes: 

> Along these lines I have been involved in discussions on various
> forums including: comp.os.vms, vms-sig-listserv, LinkedIn.com, my own
> VMSblog as well as Twitter and Facebook.  

Make sure that anyone interested in non-HP VMS software has to look in 
one, and only one, place.  That is the main issue.  Once that is solved, 
the others will follow.

If no-one with more time, money, resources etc volunteers, I might 
consider volunteering to maintain a one-stop--shop website.  Of course, 
this makes sense only if (almost) everyone agrees to always have the 
most up-to-date, stable versions of the corresponding packages there.

> The general concensus is
> that there needs to be communication, centralized repositories,
> coordination, continuity and critical mass.  These "5-Cs" are all
> important to making the Open Source on OpenVMS Project succeed.

Indeed.

> At present I can not say that any one of these issues is under
> control.

Indeed.

> 	comp.os.vms newsgroup
> 	VMS-SIG at LISTSERV.ENCOMPASSUS.ORG
> 	LinkedIn.com OpenVMS Community Group and other DEC groups on the site
> 	Facebook.com
> 	Twitter.com
> 	community-connect.org various groups and blogs on the HP Connect web
> site
> 	VMSblog my own Blog oriented toward my thoughts and evangelism for
> OpenVMS
> 	OpenVMS.org
> 	OpenVMSHobbyist.com
> 	VAXnotes on Eisner at the mail.encompasserve.org site

Again, a one-stop shop is the main issue.

> What has not happened?  We are still hampered by the need to
> communicate in many different environments and styles.  Ah to have
> some "super glue" to bind this environments together.  I have a bit of
> that started with an interface between my VMSblog and Twitter.  I have
> also been using the "AddThis" Firefox addon to help with some of the
> other areas but I still have not found the application that really
> ties things together.

I think this is the wrong approach.  ONE STOP.  Either a mailing list or
a web-based forum.  Now that they are archived and spam isn't a problem,
maybe even a newsgroup. 

> Source Forge seems like the logical place for much of this work.  This
> is especially true since the main line code trees of many Open Source
> packages are already resident.  In discussions with folks in OpenVMS
> Engineering it sounds like this is the way they are leaning.  They
> already has a history there with GNV (although the code on Source
> Forge has not been update since 30 July 2004...).  Other sites have
> GNV including ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/openvms/opensource/ where version
> V2.01.002.1 resides as well as at ftp://encompasserve.org/gnv/ where
> John Malmberg has posted various fixes and updates of the work he has
> contributed.

Source Forge is not dedicated to VMS.  While that might be fine for
development, I think we need a central repository for the latest stable
versions of VMS software.  Some packages might have ongoing development
at Source Forge or somewhere else.  Take the OSU web server, for
example.  Great product.  I don't see Dave Jones moving it to Source 
Forge, though, nor do I think that that would be a good idea.

My strategy used to be: check with Hunter Goatley's server, then check 
OSU, LYNX and TEXMF.  But there are too many exceptions now.  We need a 
one-stop shop.

> This is one of the difficult ones. If I could wave a magic wand to
> facilitate this I would.  I suspect this will take continued effort
> and management.  It will also take the active particpation of
> application authors and evangelists to make sure their offerings are
> well represented and supported.

I think a coordinator could be found if a) all involved agree on the 
goals and b) the coordinator himself also agrees.