practivist.org Projects

Features:

• JSON Parsing and Serialization
• Simple dynamic type system

The Sendero project code has now been migrated to Git from Subversion and Redmine will replace Trac as the issue-tracking/project management system. I will be using Gitorious.org for repository hosting and my own service for the Redmine project.

Here are the new URL’s:

• Redmine Issue-tracking/Project Management:http://projects.practivist.org/projects/show/sendero
• Gitorious Site: http://gitorious.org/projects/sendero
• Public Git Clone URL’s:
  • git://gitorious.org/sendero/mainline.git
  • http://git.gitorious.org/sendero/mainline.git

Mirrors will also be available at the following addresses:

• HTTP Clone URL: http://git.practivist.org/sendero.git
• Gitweb interface that publishes .tar.gz snapshots: http://gitweb.practivist.org/sendero.git

I have chosen Git because I felt it offered the best promise in turns of workflow, branching, and accepting submissions from contributors. I especially like that through services like Gitorious, contributors can easily create public clones and then ask for upstream merges I considered Mercurial, but Git seemed to be the more powerful solution for the long run. I do admit that the learning curve for Git is slightly larger, but I believe this will pay off. The Ruby on Rails people seem to be happy and I’m hopeful it will work equally well for Sendero.

In order to contribute to Sendero, simply go to the gitorious site, create a public clone (you will have to get a free gitorious account first), and push your changes. When you have something that you would like incorporated into the mainline branch, post me a merge request and I will either integrate the changes or respond with comments.

You may also notice that I have created a sub-project SenderoBase. This includes basic parts of the Sendero framework (such as JSON parsing) that I would like available under a more liberal license (at this point LGPL).

Anyway, I am making active efforts to develop the framework and I would like to encourage community involvement. I will post more information as to the direction I would like to take the project as soon as possible and hopefully these announcements will be welcome news.

The following is a near verbatim copy of a post I made in the original Sendero Forum.

Some modules (in particular those destined for possible inclusion in Tango or other libraries) will have fairly liberal licenses (i.e. BSD style).

I have decided that for the framework as a whole, however, a different licensing strategy is more appropriate. In paticular, one that limits commerical use of the library. Why?

I spent a fair amount of time deliberating over this and reading various opinions. Below is what I decided upon after careful consideration:

• The Sendero framework will be available for general use under the GNU Affero General Public License. This license allows the software to be used to create other open source software and allows anyone to create network/web software assuming that they make the source code open source. It is a fairly restrictive license.


• Non-profit/non-commercial users may use Sendero to create web/network applications under the conditions of the GPL. That is, they will not need to make the source code of their web/internet application open source.


• Commercial users may obtain a commercial license to use the software for web/internet applications or to link the library to other software to be redistributed in object form.


• Some modules within the library may release under less restrictive licenses that allow for commercial use.


• Commercial licenses for small businesses/small contractors will be available at significantly lower costs (or for free). I will ask that interested parties contact me to discuss. In particular, I would like for small independent consultants (such as myself) to use the library pretty much unrestricted for small projects if they, for instance, agree to be part of the development process or are obvious active contributors to open-source projects. I would also like to make free or very low cost commercial licenses available to businesses whose primary focus is sustainable technology/sustainability or who have integrated sustainable practices as a core part of their business model. Licenses will be provided on an individual basis, however.

Why have I chosen this model? Simply because I don’t want to do free work for large corporations or projects that will be making a large profit off off the framework. Sorry! No free lunch. I do want to encourage open-source development and I want to create a high quality/high performance library for projects that are in the public interest. But considering the array of frameworks available and where Sendero’s framework may be, I do not think it will be the library of choice for the average small project. It is a programmer’s library and takes some comfortability with working with compiled code (although I think that for users in this category, they will find it highly elegant and intuitive). My intention from the beginning has also been for the framework to be scalable and high-performance and I am hopeful that the first release will deliver on this goal. So, I think it may be attractive for larger projects. So if your intention is to create the next Wikipedia and make a great contribution for the greater good, then go ahead. Please use Sendero, that is what it is for. If you want to make the next Myspace and cash in a huge profit, then be prepared to pay for licensing fees or else look somewhere else.

More details and an official license statement to follow. Any comments welcome.

Aaron