[Asterisk-Users] Re: Re: Digium Website Update: Asterisk Business Edition

[Daryll Strauss]

Digium is taking a "some more equal than others" sort of approach to
Asterisk. They figure that since they developed the base code, they
deserve a privileged position in the food chain, where they can do
things with the code that others can't. That is absolutely their right,
but I've never liked that approach. I think it's harmful to the growth
of the project.

I was one of the "subversives" that undid the XFree86 development model.
For those who don't know, XFree86 had a model where you had to be a
member to read the code and you had to be a core member to write the
code. Anyone else had to wait for releases to get code. We set up the
DRI project which was readable by anyone and merged the code between the
the core XFree86 tree and our tree regularly. It wasn't really a fork,
since we merged code in both directions. It was just a more open
development tree. We created public mailing lists and moved discussions
out in the open. We required people submit a few patches to demonstrate
their competence, then we'd give them write access. Eventually XFree86
caved to the pressure and made their mailing lists and source tree
available to anyone. They still restricted write access, but since
patches were much more closely synch'd to the development tree getting
patches in was quicker and easier, and some people just routed them
through the DRI tree since our development was more open. The end result
was a lot more involvement and faster development of XFree86. 

I'm not comfortable with Digiums policy of having to sign over my code
to them. Although I've seen no signs of malice on their part, it just
doesn't sit right with me. I write code for a living, and if companies
are involved I expect to be paid for it. I can chose to release code
under BSD (and therefore get no say in how it is used) or I can release
it under the GPL (and make sure everyone shares it). Digium is
essentially asking me to write code and donate it to them without
getting paid, and if they like it they'll keep a copy and release a copy
under the GPL. Individuals donating to companies doesn't make a lot of
sense to me, so I won't do that. That means I can choose to not
distribute my code, or make it available under the GPL and make other
people treat it as a patch to Digium's tree.

One of benefits of open source is that the contributors have a say in
this matter. If contributors really don't like it, there's no reason
they couldn't start a "libre asterisk" project on SourceForge. The
downside of that the members of the libre project would have to merge
the Digium code at regular intervals. It takes some effort. It also
requires getting enough of a community to make it worthwhile. If enough
people contribute to the libre project instead of directly to Digium,
then Digium may find it's not worth the effort of continuing their
contribution policy, just like what happened with XFree86. It is
available as an option, for those people who think it is enough of an
issue and want to do the work involved.

						- |Daryll