[mdlug] Hi...I'm a new mdluger

[Ingles, Raymond]

> From: Robert Lippert

> I'm thinking of not putting it out until I feel it's well 
> defined and finished and I've written a good tutorial on how to use it.

 That's generally a good idea. An open-source project usually needs to be at
least minimally useful before it gathers any interest or support. Documentation
isn't strictly necessary (only if the code is written *very* clearly) but it's
best thought of as a catalyst. A chemical reaction *can* happen without a catalyst,
but with a catalyst it can proceed *much* faster. Good documentation will
drastically increase the appeal of an open-source project.

> I don't know yet whether I'll except helpers...changes....of coarse.

 One of my projects, 'Ostiary', isn't very large or well-known, but it's gotten
plenty of bug reports, patches and fixes, and new features contributed by others.
You can expect at least that, and possibly some collaborators if your software
'scratches an itch' of theirs.

> I guess the trick is how to maintain control over open source.

 "Forking" (where someone else takes the code and sets up a separate project)
is *extremely* rare. Generally speaking, the original author gets to decide
what contributions go into the 'official' releases, unless they delegate that
power (but that's for the really big projects). If the author disapproves of a
patch that turns out to be popular with some percentage of the users, sometimes
that patch will be maintained or offered separately, by someone else. But even
that is rare; maintaining such a patch outside of the official release cycle
tends to be tedious work and only happens in special cases.

 I don't think control will be a major issue.

 Sincerely,

 Ray Ingles                                           (313) 227-2317

 "Our answer to al Qaeda shouldn't be to restrict our own liberties.
         It should be to restrict theirs." - J. Pournelle
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