POL open source

[Yukiko]

It has been a while since I have logged in and posted here. November last year to be approximate. I read this thread and decided I would post my own response. I will address the points I can remember from the mental list I made as I read the various arguments listed here. Their is no significance to the order.

Security of open source versus closed source
Now I am by no means an expet on programming and/or security issues so understand my observations here are purely anecdotal and not based on my personal experiences.

It seems to me that there are many open source projects that need to be secure against hackers and exploiters and from all appearances they are pretty well secure. Where security flaws are found, it seems that the "community" involved with the project responds and either fixes the problem or at the very least determines where the issue lies so that it can be fixed. Also, by being open source, code is made available for security issues to be found by the community so that they can be fixed. I realize that this makes it easier for true exploiters to find the problem but if, and I say 'if' with emphasis, there is an active community behind the open source (OS) project then those security issues will get fixed thus twarting the exploiters.

Some of the open source projects that I thought of when pondering this issue were the PHP server, MySQL server, Apache web server, TrueCrypt - an open source encryption system which I use and PGP - a public/private key encryption system which still has an open source version I believe. Oh yes I almost forgot about Linux which I believe is the most stable and secure operating system in existence. FYI I am not a Linux user just in case you were wondering.


If you won't develop for the Distro then why should we believe that if POL were open source you'd do anything useful for the core?
I thought about this and at first glance it sounds like a logical question. I mean it stands to reason that for all intents and purposes if you won't program scripts then you won't program core right?

Mmmm... well, maybe not. I think it's an issue of motivation. Let me see if I can illustrate this with an example from the past.

I remember back to my Apple II days when the entire schematic for the computer was packaged with every Apple. Think of the Apple as an appliance that ran programs. If that appliance malfunctioned anyone with some digital electronics experience could trace down the problem and fix the appliance and thereby get back to using it. One advantage in those days was that all the integrated circuits (ICs) were on sockets so that facilitated easy removal and replacement. One could even, with some modifications of the circuit board, add to the system, albeit in a limited way but it could be done.

Now aside from curiosity the user of an Apple had no motivation to open the case and start poking around inside even if they were an electronics technician. Nor did they have reason to try to fix the program since they knew it worked fine as long as the Apple was working correctly. However if they found the computer to be exhibiting odd behaviour while running a known good program and could attribute that to a faulty circuit then they would have a reason to open up the case, find and fix the problem. In other words they had a motive or need to do the repair.

I see the POL core in this same light. It is an appliance. Scripters use it just like the people used the Apple II. They feed it scripts and it performs its magic and makes the game work. It appears to me that, if the appliance has a bug here and there that prevents the scripts from working properly and the schematics, code, were made available to the community at large they could "open up the case" and fix those bugs and thereby make the appliance work. In other words there would be motivation to fix/work on the core if for no other reason than to fix the bugs. Likewise there is no need for them to mess with the Distro because they have their own scripts to worry about.

Understand I am not trying to excuse the lack of participation by the community with the Distro. I merely state, in what I freely admit is my opinion, the nature of the problem as I see it.


*chuckles*

I have forgotten most of the other topics I wanted to discuss. This is probably for the best as this post is long but I do want to touch on a few things before I close.

It might seem from the above commentary that I am for POL being released as open source. Frankly I have mixed feelings on the subject but what I think or feel is not the issue. POL doesn't belong to me or anyone of those who have begged, argued, pushed or demanded that it go OS. It belongs to Eric Swanson, atleast that's what the copyright notice says, and it is his to do with as he pleases. He pleases to keep it closed and so I am with him on that.

It seems to me that many times those who raise the open source argument are the ones who post the least on the forums. I also get the feeling that they are the least willing to share any of their scripts with the community as well. Not that this is any gauge really but I would think that if a person is asking someone else to share their property, that the asker should be of the same mind to share atleast a little of his work. That's just my opinion though. It's not worth more than two Ningies at the intergalactic monetary exchange.

I have great respect for the POL developers. They can be frustrating at times like when they reorganize the directory structure of the POL Distro, that has been pretty much the same since POL 88, so that it makes my brain go to mush trying to integrate the old with the new but still I respect them.

The fact that the developers have made an open invitation to people who wish to be on the development team should satisfy those who wish to actively work on POL. If that isn't good enough for you then I guess you'll have to decide what you will do.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for the moment.