Hi Jörg
Overall I like your suggestion.
Steve
On 2/6/21 1:50 AM, Jörg Schmidt wrote:
Hello,
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Lubbs [mailto:stevelu...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2021 9:54 PM
To: dev@openoffice.apache.org
Subject: Re: [Discussion] Would we enable volunteers that
develop extensions
Just a thought.
As part of an effort to enable volunteer extension authors
would it make
sense to selectively approve extension functionality for
inclusion into
AOO on a case by case basis? If it provides a level of new
functionality
that is considered important and compelling, say something that is on
the wish list and that no one has the time to pursue? For
instance a PDF
importer that was mentioned earlier.
This is an interesting idea, which I had already mentioned myself (elsewhere).
However, there is the experience of the past to consider, so that it is
prevented that extensions, objectively as well as from subjective view of
users, are regarded as emergency nail.
It should not be allowed (technically) that AOO is delivered with an
inflationary high number of _individual_ extensions, but there should be (also
in view of the named purpose to transfer extension code later into core code) a
kind of main extension as a container for the individual extensions, so that
especially in the extension manager only the one main extension is visible.
Of course, this requires some organization, i.e. that the extension programmers
adhere to certain technical conditions, but this effort will pay off in the
long run.
As an experience value I can refer to the LiMux project
(https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux), in which I was involved professionally
over many years, and was occupied there with the conversion of specialized
applications and VBA macros to OOo extensions.
At that time, there were very detailed specifications (size around 50 DIN-A4
pages) for the creation of extensions, which made integration into the overall
project and maintenance much easier.
Of course, we should be open to any programming languages within the extensions
(there can also be so-called non-code extensions), but again I would like to
mention: turning our gaze more towards Python would be quite beneficial,
especially for extensions to be ported into the core code later.
A step in this direction might be the development of an integrated Python IDE,
parallel to the StarBasic IDE, in AOO.
(I would like to emphasize that my personal Python knowledge is limited, so the
above is not a personal preference, but a strategic consideration).
With the author's permission and effort the extension could
be ported to
be core code rather than an extension. The author, upon agreeing to
these conditions could be given the right of first refusal to be the
maintainer of the code. There should also be a proviso that
the author
will to do the port.
This, or some permutation, could be one way to reward
extension authors
for their efforts, provide incentive,
I think it would also be a motivation to award membership in the PMC according
to objective performance and not depending on the subjective opinion of
individuals.
greetings,
Jörg
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