Hi Greg and everyone,

On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 12:32:10PM -0400, Greg Troxel wrote:
> Is anybody still working on coda at CMU?   I can certainly understand
> being busy on other things because there is no current funding.   If
> there isn't a continuing maintenance effort, then it seems time to
> transform coda into a community project rather than a only-cmu-can-write
> project.   Barring objections, it seems reasonable for Rune or someone
> to set up an official repository someplace, perhasp under the aegis of
> FSF, Software Freedom Conservatory, or some other group.

Looking at the git log one can see that some development still
happens there. There were no bigger changes, thus no real reason
to release new versions.

(By the way the modular clog itself also originated at CMU. I guess it
is one of multiple Coda-related subprojects which "could" be integrated
at the time but were not. Instead of the integration the corresponding
resources were needed and spent on new research and development and so
on - it is research that sculpted what Coda looks like, for the good
and for the bad.)

I think the resources provided by CMU - the web site, the mailing list
and the code repository - are very valuable (kudos to Satya, Jan and CMU),
even if there were no development on their side.

It would otherwise take an extra effort to create and maintain a new
infrastructure even given different "free" hosting possibilities.

What the project lacks probably most of all is a coordinator who
would review patches and take technical and policy decisions,
reconciling the parties who wish to contribute.

This is the role which Jan would be qualified best for but he hardly
has the time and possibly not even a motivation (?) - coordination
is more demanding, tedious and continuous than development.

I assume otherwise that Satya/CMU does not have any reason for
governing the Coda development in the "only-cmu-can-write" fashion.
This is only the matter of available resources.

The question is - who can take the burden and responsibility for the
project or at least for its code base. Today it is Jan with the extremely
few "CPU-cycles" available for the role.

Yours truly already has his available time overcommited. Taking the
coordination duties and the responsibility for the whole project
would be hardly realistic. I hope we will find some other way.

This can be seen otherwise as a highly "non-technical" need - to find a
funding source for the project, to allow the survival of a prospective
"benevolent dictator of Coda". Any ideas?

Cheers,
Rune