[ale] Re: Introductory Linux presentation

[aaron]

Hey Kimberly!

Thanks for your note and the invitation to help educate your
colleagues on GNU Linux and GPL Open Source development.

For myself, I have a broad working knowledge of Open Source
and Linux topics,  but I know that there are several members of
ALE who are better qualified to address your specific questions
on team project development and I have taken the liberty of
forwarding your request to our general membership. [=below=]

While you're waiting for someone with more direct experience
to respond off list, I can offer you a few general points of info
on programming in the OSS world.

I can start by assuring your group that they have nearly
total freedom to use whatever processes, tools, governance
and project management structures they may prefer for their
Open Source development work  They can make their project
code bases and repositories as open and public or as private
and restricted as they choose, just as they can decide the open
license terms of any programs and source code they develop.
The only consideration of using proprietary development tools
for open software is that the licensing agreements for those
tools must not restrict or disallow the open distribution of
programs or source code created by using them.

If the project employs or extends source code released under
the protections of the GNU General Public License, or if you
intend to release original work under the GPL, your team
should be familiar with the license terms and expectations of
reciprocal user freedoms.  Both the legacy GPLv2 and new
GPLv3 license documents are on line at
        <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>
but with either GPL version your source code does not need
to be made publicly available until the time that your program
itself is publicly distributed.

To address a specific concern in your note, in no situation is an
open software project, development team or user obligated to
accept or employ the contributions of any programmer, so the
only way someone can "mess up" an open source program,
maliciously or otherwise, is if the source code they submit is
never subjected to the standard practices of public review and
testing that are inherent to the whole concept of Open Source.  

A closing hope is that any OSS development pursued by you
and your teams will embrace the GPL, will be done using
open source languages and tools, and will be maintained in
the most public, open and accessable means available. This 
approach will ensure that you maximize the advantages that
Open Source development has to offer by maximizing your
contribution to the wider community.

Sincerely,
Aaron Ruscetta
ALE Events Coordinator




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On Thursday 20 December 2007 15:12,
Wilson, Kimberly J. (CDC/COTPER/DBS) (CTR) wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I got your email off the Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts' website. I am
> looking for people who may be qualified to give a 30-minute or so
> presentation on open source development to a primarily non-technical
> audience. Ideally, we would like to find someone who has experience
> setting up and running a successful open source development project and
> who could speak around issues such as governance (how do you keep
> someone from messing up the program?) and lessons learned (if I had it
> to do over again, I would/would not do X.)
> 
> Does anyone affiliated with your group know of someone who may be able
> to make such a presentation? We are looking for strictly educational
> content, not a marketing presentation. This group is focused on
> facilitating a transition to open source and supporting a community and
> few if any of the members are themselves developers.
> 
> Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks a lot!
> 
> Kim Wilson
> 
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