264 wiersze
11 KiB
HTML
264 wiersze
11 KiB
HTML
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>SourceForge drifting</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h2>SourceForge drifting</h2>
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<h3>2001-10-20</h3>
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<p>
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Over the past few months the <a
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href="http://www.sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</a>
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development facility, which hosts a large number of <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free
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Software</a> projects, has changed its policies. Features
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for exporting a project from SourceForge have been
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removed. The implementation used to be exclusively Free
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Software but is now <a
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href="http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:WxA5jbBHLMQ:sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php%3Fdocid%3D6267%26group_id%3D1+larry+augustin+site:sourceforge.net&hl=en">based
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on non-free software</a>. Finally, VA Linux[<a
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href="#valinux">1</a>] has become rather underhand in their
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attempts to grasp exclusive control of contributors' work.
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</p>
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<p>
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SourceForge did a lot of good for the Free Software community,
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but it's now time to break free.
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</p>
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<h3>Locking users in a non-free software world</h3>
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<p>
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SourceForge brought to Free Software a unified and standard
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development methodology based on modern tools. Before
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SourceForge, such tools (bug tracking, cvs, web, support,
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forums, polls, news, etc.) were available individually, but
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few developers used many of them together, because they had
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to set up the combined facilities on their own. SourceForge
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made the combination conveniently available for both new and
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experienced developers.
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</p>
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<p>
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Because of the convenience of SourceForge, many Free
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Software developers have come to take this collection
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of features for granted, and would be reluctant to go
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back to the old way of doing things. Unfortunately,
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this means that when SourceForge itself takes a turn
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for the worse, it tends to pull Free Software developers
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down with it.
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</p>
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<p>
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The second important thing SourceForge did was to provide
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this environment based exclusively on <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free
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Software</a>. By doing this, SourceForge not only provided a
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powerful methodology for the Free Software community, it
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also demonstrated what Free Software could do, and promoted
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the use of Free Software. And since the special software
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for SourceForge was itself free, anyone could set up a
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similar site. The SourceForge software became permanently
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available to developers everywhere. Developers in (say)
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India who can't afford the bandwidth to use the SourceForge
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site could have the benefit of the same features on their
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own server.
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</p>
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<p>
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In August 2001, VA Linux reversed those policies and
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introduced non-free software on the SourceForge server. In
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<a
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href="http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:WxA5jbBHLMQ:sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php%3Fdocid%3D6267%26group_id%3D1+larry+augustin+site:sourceforge.net&hl=en"> announcing this</a> (the original document was removed or moved shortly after the publication of this article), Larry Augustin (VA Linux CEO) claims
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that SourceForge.net users will <i>"see virtually no
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changes"</i>. That may be true if they narrow their vision
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and consider only what job the site does and how to operate
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it. But when we consider the
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implications, things are very different now. Instead of a
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showcase for Free Software, SourceForge is now a demo site
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for non-free software. There is a danger that the many
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thousands of people registered on SourceForge will become
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increasingly hooked on the SourceForge site and on features
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implemented by proprietary software.
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</p>
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<p>
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As a Free Software developer, you are still free to use the
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SourceForge server, but you won't have the freedom to copy,
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modify, study and distribute the software it runs; you won't
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be free to set up a similar site yourself, or adapt it to
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your own needs. The <a
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href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/alexandria/"> last
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published release</a > of the SourceForge software is one
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year old.
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</p>
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<p>
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The move to non-free software was the culmination of a
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series of steps designed to lock users in. There never was a
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way to fully extract projects from SourceForge, but efforts
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were made in this direction--then this year they were
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removed. At present the only things you can get are the <a
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href="http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cvstarballs/">CVS tree</a>
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and tracker data <i>/export/sf_tracker_export.php</i>. Few
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people are aware of the later because it is undocumented.
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The <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net/export/">export
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page</a> explains how to use scripts that don't exist
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anymore; implementation of facilities to ease project
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extraction was stopped. The developer community is
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exclusively made of VA Linux employees and a few people who
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are asked not to disclose the current code.
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</p>
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<p>
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The <a href="http://www.geocrawler.com/about/">mailing lists
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archives</a>, a major service of SourceForge recently became
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<i>unmaintained</i>. Will it be replaced by a non-free
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software based solution ?
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</p>
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<h3>Contributors' work appropriation</h3>
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<p>
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Here is what happened to me shortly before the announcement
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that SourceForge would use and develop non-free software.
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Because I'm listed as a contributor (in the <a
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href="http://chris.from.lu/SF2.5/AUTHORS">sources</a> and <a
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href="http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=751&group_id=1">documentation</a>)
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to the SourceForge software, I received a request from VA
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Linux to assign copyright to them. I was not surprised or
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unhappy with this; many Free Software projects ask
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contributors to assign copyright of their changes to the
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main author. Assigning copyright to a single holder is a
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strategy for defending the <a
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href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GNU GPL</a> more
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effectively, and I would have been happy to cooperate in
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that regard.
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</p>
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<p>
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But when I read the details of their copyright assignment, I
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saw major problems. I was asked to assign copyright of
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my work that "<i>is, or may in the future be, utilised in the
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SourceForge collaborative software development
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platform</i>". The assignment was not limited to my
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contribution to the SourceForge code, it potentially covered
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all my past and future work if it was of some interest to
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SourceForge.
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</p>
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<p>
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I was also expecting a promise that my work would be
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released under the GNU GPL, but the assignment said nothing
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about Free Software. VA Linux would be allowed to release
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the software I wrote under a non-free software license and
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not let the community have it at all. But I wasn't sure at
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the time if this was a real concern, because VA Linux only
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produced and used Free Software. Two weeks later they
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decided to introduce non-free software on SourceForge
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and that cast a different light on the question.
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</p>
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<p>
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VA Linux told me that they only sent the assignment to two
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people, in the hope to refine it. We started a long
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discussion that lasted two months. I assumed this
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discussion was to make the copyright assignment more
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palatable to the Free Software community, so I worked hard
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to give constructive feedback. Finally I was sent the
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version of the copyright assignment produced by the legal
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department. I quote it here in its entirety:
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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SourceForge Copyright Assignment
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<p>
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<i>Thank you for your interest in contributing software code
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to SourceForge.</i>
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</p>
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<p>
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<i>In order for us to include the code in our product, we will
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need you to provide us with the rights to the code.</i>
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</p>
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<p>
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<i>By signing this agreement, you, the undersigned, hereby
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assign to VA Linux all right, title and interest in and to
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the software code described below, and all copyright,
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patent, proprietary information, trade secret, and other
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intellectual property rights therein. You also agree to take
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all actions and sign all documents (such as copyright
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assignments or registrations) reasonably requested by VA
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Linux to evidence and record the above assignments.</i>
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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This was even more of a power grab than the first draft. "<i>You
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give us total control; we promise nothing</i>". At this point,
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I knew that the attempts to clarify the copyright assignment
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were a waste of time; VA Linux clearly wasn't collecting
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copyright assignments in order to enforce the GNU GPL.
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</p>
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<h3>Escape entrapment</h3>
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<p>
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It's time for people who value freedom to escape from
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SourceForge. It has become a tar pit from which escape will
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become increasingly difficult. Development hosting platforms
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based completely on Free Software flourish all over the
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world. You can create your own, join an existing one or
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help write the underlying software. Some months ago I helped
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to launch <a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/">Savannah</a> for
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the GNU project because I felt the need of a collaboratively
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run platform. With friends and co-developpers we are now
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re-writing and packaging <a
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href="http://savannah.gnu.org/docs/savannah-plan.html">distributed
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development hosting</a> software. The idea is to be able to
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install and operate a SourceForge-like site within hours.
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Savannah will run this software at the end of this year. At
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first it may have less functionality than SourceForge, but
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it has a bright future because it is rooted in a cooperative
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effort of people sharing Free Software.
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</p>
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<p>
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SourceForge is free as in free beer because it was designed
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this way. It was a very expensive and ephemeral gift to the
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Free Software community. We could resent VA Linux for such a
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poisoned gift. On the contrary I think we should thank
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them. They brought us methodology, and taught us that a
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development hosting facility must be built in a distributed
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and collaborative way, not by a single company controlling
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everything from top to bottom. Of course that means everyone
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needs to spend a little time developing and maintaining these
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hosting facilities. We've finished our beer, it's time to win
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our freedom.
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</p>
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<p>
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<i><a href="mailto:loic@gnu.org">Loïc Dachary</a></i>
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</p>
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<ol class="fn">
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<li id="valinux"><a href="http://www.valinux.com/">VA Linux</a> is the
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owner of the <a href="http://www.sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</a> domain
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name, provides and owns the hardware, pays for the bandwidth, hire people
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maintaining SourceForge. VA Linux is also the owner of most <a
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href="http://www.osdn.com/">OSDN</a> sites, the largest concentration of
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Free Software related resources in the hands of a single company.</li>
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</ol>
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</body>
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</html>
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