Re: [X2go-dev] source code repository
Gerry, thanks for your expertise on this. I will mark this mail for further reference, in case I will need it some time. It is a really good digest on the subject of freed software. Thanks a lot, Mike On Fr 16 Jul 2010 04:07:47 CEST Gerry Reno wrote: There has always been confusion about the terms free software and open source software and all the different open source licenses that are available. There are essentially four (4) categories of open source software: 1. Free Software (FS) 2. Open Source Software (OSS) 3. Free (Libre) Open Source Software (FOSS, FLOSS) 4. Commercial Open Source Software (COSS) In all of these the term free does not have anything to do with price. It means freedom as in liberty, unfettered, unconstrained, etc. I think a better term might have been freed software to avoid confusion and I will use that term here for clarity. So what do these different terms mean? 1. Free(d) Software (FS) is software that is released in a human-readable form (source code) and has applied to it a free(d) software license defining the four freedoms, as first proposed and championed by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation, that are granted to users of the software or it is put into the public domain. (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html) The four freedoms are: 0. The freedom to run the program, for any purpose. 1. The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish. 2. The freedom to redistribute copies. 3. The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. 2. Open Source Software (OSS) is not so clearly defined as was free(d) software and there are various definitions available. The Open Source Initiative tried to codify the concept of open source to mean no restrictions to freely distribute the software, that the software must contain at least the clear unobfuscated original source code and optionally binary code, that the license must not discriminate against any individual or group or field of endeavor or technology, that the license grant all users the same rights as the author acquired and not require the execution of a different license, that the license not restrict the software to being part of a specific software assembly, that the license not restrict other software. (http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd). This is basically a clumsy rewording of parts of the free(d) software definition. However many open source licenses resulted that technically met the definition of open source and yet were not free(d) software licenses. 3. Free (Libre) Open Source Software (FOSS, FLOSS) is an attempt to clarify that the software is both open source and licensed under a free(d) software license. In other words it is free(d) software as per Stallman's FSF definition. 4. Commercial Open Source Software (COSS) is a category of open source software that does not meet the criteria for a free(d) software license. Certain rights may be restricted to users of the software in a non-free license despite the fact that it technically open source. NOTE: It is important to note that whenever a software is derived from a free(d) software license such as the GPL that the copyleft requirements permanently make all derived works as also being free(d) software. This means that when you link to a GPL library that you cannot later decide to release the derived work under another license. Just ask Linus Torvalds about this if you have any doubt. And there is more to the story of free(d) and open source software that just the software itself. There is the manner in which the software is built. There are the concepts of open and closed development processes. In general the first three categories above usually involve open development processes whereby a community is built surrounding the software and is fully involved under the guidance of a free(d) or open source editor who is the evangelist and de facto leader, the CEO if you will, for the software project. The last category of commercial open source usually involves a closed development process where there is no or very little community and the software is constructed without community involvement and is finally released with its sources under some form of non-free open source license. Today you find huge supportive communities built up around free(d) open source software projects following an open development process. Take for example Linux, where there are hundreds of thousands of community members supporting distributions such as Fedora, Debian, Suse, Ubuntu, Centos, and a host of others. If it weren't for the contributions of thousands of volunteers under an open development process Linux would never have been what it is today. And it's hard to name even one open source project following a closed development process that has
Re: [X2go-dev] X2go Python Client Library
On Fri, 2010-07-16 at 20:03 +0200, Joerg Sawatzki wrote: Hey list, the state of Lower Saxony, Germany is currently developing a portable learning environment for schools - see http://www.n-stick.de . Some schools with a good internet connection asked whether it is possible to start and run applications on a remote terminal server within this platform. Apart from that it might happen that the state will run a terminal server cluster that provides a standard set of educational applications ready to use through VPN/web. These ideas and requirements made me have a deeper look at the internals of x2go and I developed a python library that can be used to easily build an x2go client - on win32 and linux. At the moment it is only a code snippet, but it is already quite good for demo purposes. http://github.com/joerg86/pyx2go Have a look at it and tell me what you think. Questions, contributions and feedback are very welcome. A neat idea! Thank you - John ___ X2go-dev mailing list X2go-dev@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/x2go-dev
Re: [X2go-dev] test version of baikal and some further informations
- Original Message - snip the plugin itself is under development. It's a combination of x2goclient and and a dynamically linked library (.so / .dll), but what you see and can use is mainly the classic x2goclient as we know it. The library is needed to start x2goclient. We are discussing to use qtbrowserplugin instead, which would replace the library and will offer support for other browsers (like ie). You can have a look inside the code of the library here: http://x2go.obviously-nice.de/mozplug/ To build an operational library, you'll have to download and use a mozilla firefox source tree. snip I think using qtbrowserplugin would be an excellent change. May I also mention that the latest version of the plugin still has the bug where some browsers do not display the login screen but simply the place holder --x2goplugin //--. We have not yet figured out why as we get different results with the same version of Firefox on the same version of Windows :( - John ___ X2go-dev mailing list X2go-dev@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/x2go-dev John, install Firebug and see how it views it. -- Thanks, Phil ___ X2go-dev mailing list X2go-dev@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/x2go-dev
Re: [X2go-dev] source code repository
Dear Jörg, Am Freitag, den 16.07.2010, 15:27 +0200 schrieb Joerg Sawatzki: Well, using VCS doesn't mean that you are giving away power/leadership of the project. Using VCS means saving a lot of time and being a lot more productive, even if you do not accept any contribution of anybody. I agree with most of your points, but I didn't read any reason against using VCS. that is because no reasons were stated. I'd love to work 1-2 hours per day on x2go, but NOT on source code that is a couple of months or even years old and send tar.gz through e-mail until the confusion is perfect and nobody knows who's talking about what state/revision of the code. But it is all right if you don't want that free gift. And no, VCS is not just a way to download files that could also be put in a .tar.gz - VCS is the one and only way to make structured open, fast and reliable development possible. If you don't believe me, ask anybody who has worked in a professional software project. I heard stories about the development environments in professional software projects in some companies. I guess you would run away screaming. ;-) Anyway, this is my last mail on this subject - I have offered you my support and you don't want it for reasons I don't know. Please do not complain if an x2go-ng project appears on github in the next few months - I need to help myself and my clients - and well, I have asked you before. I talked to Heinz at LinuxTag and read his answers. As far as I understood, they are using a VCS (Git) already and they are going to make it public! But it will take them some time. So we could argue about the correct order of the priority list, but I suggest to be patient a little more and to be optimistic that this will happen soon. Seeing all you people raring to go to get your hands dirty, I am looking forward to all your contributions! Thanks, Paul signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ X2go-dev mailing list X2go-dev@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/x2go-dev
Re: [X2go-dev] source code repository
Hi Joerg, On Fr 16 Jul 2010 15:27:52 CEST Joerg Sawatzki wrote: Hi. Well, using VCS doesn't mean that you are giving away power/leadership of the project. Using VCS means saving a lot of time and being a lot more productive, even if you do not accept any contribution of anybody. I agree with most of your points, but I didn't read any reason against using VCS. I'd love to work 1-2 hours per day on x2go, but NOT on source code that is a couple of months or even years old and send tar.gz through e-mail until the confusion is perfect and nobody knows who's talking about what state/revision of the code. But it is all right if you don't want that free gift. And no, VCS is not just a way to download files that could also be put in a .tar.gz - VCS is the one and only way to make structured open, fast and reliable development possible. If you don't believe me, ask anybody who has worked in a professional software project. Anyway, this is my last mail on this subject - I have offered you my support and you don't want it for reasons I don't know. Please do not complain if an x2go-ng project appears on github in the next few months - I need to help myself and my clients - and well, I have asked you before. I get your point about VCS completely, GIT is planned by the developers for the very near future. It will come after the next release is out. As a contributer, working on the most recent code base is absolutely necessary for providing your contributions. However, I strongly think, that we should focus our brains and hearts on a common solution for X2go!!! Maybe this needs time, patience and also a soft perception for the needs, wishes and hesitations of others. You can never go too deep, but only too fast... Similar to you, I am currently working on a terminal server concept for schools in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Maybe there is interest on your side to share ideas and approaches. Please contact me privately (and in German) if you like. Best, Mike -- DAS-NETZWERKTEAM mike gabriel, dorfstr. 27, 24245 barmissen fon: +49 (4302) 281418, fax: +49 (4302) 281419 eMail-LeseSchreibStunde: wochentags 8h-10h mail: m.gabr...@das-netzwerkteam.de, http://das-netzwerkteam.de freeBusy: https://mail.das-netzwerkteam.de/freebusy/m.gabriel%40das-netzwerkteam.de.xfb ___ X2go-dev mailing list X2go-dev@lists.berlios.de https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/x2go-dev
