Re: [O] ox-html.el removal

[Jambunathan K]

Christopher Schmidt <address@hidden> writes:

> Detlef Steuer <address@hidden> writes:
>> But: The papers the FSF asked you to sign were constructed for exactly
>> this case I assume.
>
> That's not right.
>
>     https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-assign.html
>
> I am not a copyright lawyer.  So is everyone else subscribed to this
> list.  The FSF's copyright clerk should assist on this issue.

I really am not discussing what I am going to do with people on this
list.  My disagreements are past discussion.

My code has not landed in Emacs and Org-8.0 is not released.

> #+BEGIN my2cents
> If Jambunathan does not want code he wrote to be part of Org any more,
> I'd respect his wish.  At first sight this is a loss for Org.  This
> does not need to be the end, though.  

> GSoC is coming up, rewriting specific exporter look like great
> projects.

You can write exporters even if they are available elsewhere.  

That said, Writing exporters is an easy job - a low hanging fruit so to
speak - and if you are a student, I recommend that you focus on more
interesting projects that pose some challenge and provide opportunities
to think in critical manner and frustrate you in some way.

I would consider Nicolas work - Writing a parser, developing a spec,
defining APIs - etc as a project that has broader scope.  Writing
exporters is meh!.  Poor me, I have been stupid.

If you are interested in project ideas concerning Org, talk to Nicolas
Goaziou.  I am sure he will not disappoint you.  See whether you can use
element infrastructure in other heavily used parts of Org core - say
agenda generation.

Work on projects where the project maintainer has written substantial
amount of challenging code for considerable period.

Also, look for project ideas that can continue for considerable period
of time, work that you can revisit for the next GSOC or one that you can
continue after your current course work.

You want to look for work with greater scope.  Actively seek projects
where the requirements and what-is-to-be-done is either not clear or the
time investment required to achieve the goal cannot be established
apriori.

Also look for features that are new and young.  They tend to have
challenges that are easily defined but not refined.

If you are interested in Emacs, keep tracking Stefan Monnier's or Eli
Zaretskii's posts.  They drop hints during casual discussion on where
they want things improved - Concurrency support in Emacs, Eli may have
some ideas on improvement to Bi-directional support, Use of Red-Black
trees and improvement to overlays code, porting over C code to Lisp
etc.  I can dig up the mailing lists if you are interested.

I wish to more GSoC contributions in to core Emacs.


> Jambunathan did not mention what is going to happen to his code.

I don't know.  I believe it will continue to remain in repos and in
people's disks.  I cannot cleanup the whole internet, can I?

> Jambu, are you going to maintain the code you wrote separately.  If so,
> is code free, libre and upwards compatible to future Org releases?

I use Emacs (and have been using it for atleast 10 years or so).  I
support Free Software.  

Even if my combative positioning doesn't amount to anything much, I want
to throw in a little friction by the way of Bastien and the current
release.  I am stating my purpose in no uncertain terms - yes it is to
delay the release or cause confusion.

I contribute to Free Software under my pleasure - it is my time and
efforts and my resources - and I have freedom to exercise my discretion
on what conditions and what projects I contribute to.

It is possible that ox-html.el is re-written.  It is unlikely that
ox-odt.el is *not* re-written.

So I will release ox-odt.el for inclusion in to Emacs or GNU ELPA after
a 6 month or 1 year period.  My code is meant for others to use and I am
not bothered about a 6 month or a 1 year break.

> #+END

> A long yet somewhat relevant read:
>
>     https://lwn.net/Articles/529522/
>     http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.encryption.gpg.gnutls.devel/6465

I have seen these threads.  I have a casual interest in such stuff.  May
be it is time I developed a nuanced understanding of how copyright etc
works in real world.

When it comes to law, much depends on context and the context has to be
un-equivocally established by debating parties and a judge.  It is
possible that my case is different, and I will see what opinions people
have to offer.  By people, I mean people-in-the-know.

>         Christopher