Just because I haven't had time to update Net::Whois in years doesn't
mean I haven't got plans or indeed scraps of code. It actually is an
interesting case because its really a wrapper around external service
which refuses to standardize (despite efforts toward that) and changes
willy-nilly. It needs a complete rewrite to address the needs of today's
registrar lookups. I don't have time for it but I have plans for it. I
have had someone try to steal the maintainership out from under me. That
wasn't nice. Especially since his fixes didn't solve the underlying
issues. I believe he took my code, which in turn was based on Chip's
original version, and eventually made a new module with documentation
excoriating me for not letting him take Net::Whois away from me (around
this same time, I was a p/t college professor and had a research student
working to implement my plans for a new version so you can imagine I was
really rather annoyed at the hijack attempt). This hijacker actually
lied to the CPAN librarian saying that I had approved this transfer.
fortunately, I got a notice of the change and protested and it was reversed.
Recently, someone proposed to co-maintain and I have asked him to send
me a development plan of some kind outlining what it is that he wants to
do. He agreed that this was a reasonable approach but has never gotten
back to me with the plan. Finding a new maintainer isn't as easy as it
sounds we are all busy. then of course there are people outside the
module author community who, despite using free software, see no reason
to spend any of THEIR time contributing back to the community with
actual code. Instead they go on about how its great to get this stuff
for free -- as in $0 -- and that's it.
Best way to get a maintainer to resume interest is to address
motivation. Monetary support makes time available if the maintainer has
any interest in the topic. I personally would have been pleased to spend
3 months making the ultimate WHOIS lookup system. Don't have the time. I
do need to come back to it because my other ideas need it...but I don't
have time to work on them either. got to pay the bills....
Ken Williams wrote:
On Aug 24, 2006, at 4:31 AM, Ovid wrote:
----- Original Message ----
From: Ken Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Having a "name and shame" mentality about this is IMO wrong.
I hope you're not saying I suggested that. I did not name anyone. I
didn't ask for a list of modules whose authors we should hunt down.
That's true, it's more the "shame" part I'm objecting to, and I
latched on to that meme from somewhere out in pop culture.
I only asked for those authors to find *some* way of ensuring that
their users can get support if the author does not have the time or
inclination to do so.
I guess that's true, but I bet those authors aren't going to be
reading the module-authors list much either.
-Ken
