Projet dead ?

[bastien-roucaries]

Hi,

Some fork are better maintained like : https://github.com/openEuler-BaseService/yajl

Does the project is dead ?

Bastien

[wuch-g2v]

+1 ping ..

[theoparis]

I made a fork a while ago here on codeberg. I will look into merging some of the other PRs besides #211 and making a release.

[kloczek]

Please move that repo to gihub or any gitlab.
Codeberg do not offer enable projects watches/notifications as selectively as gihub/gitlab (you can enable only all watches or disable it), I'm not interested to receive all discussions/issues tickets. I'll be mostly interested only notifications about new releases.
If you are not going to make Codeberg releases or github/gitlab newreleases.io is not able to watch new releases on Codeberg as well.
Other thing is that Codeberg do not offer cross references between commits comments and issue tickets within the project or with other projects as well like it is with github/gitlab.
From that angle the best place to keep that fork is github.

[theoparis]

The reason I use codeberg is because they support ipv6 and will soon support fast forward merging. I found this issue so I don't think gitlab supports --ff-only: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/325868 Of course, there is always manual PR merging.

See https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/4618

[kloczek]

Really? Github do not support ipv6? 🤔

[Neustradamus]

@lloyd: It is possible to move your repository in a GitHub organization and add a new team?

[robohack]

@lloyd hasn't made a peep about yajl here in about a decade as far as I can see, but that doesn't mean the "project", i.e. the code, is dead. That never happens to open source code, especially not when it's here on Github or on any other well known long-standing repository hosting site.

There are lots of forks of lloyd/yajl, some actively worked on.

There are also copies of the project, perhaps many in many places, including my own (which started as a fork and was split off with the help of Github): robohack's yajl.

[Neustradamus]

A long time ago, I have done a ticket:

• New version? Vulns? #219

[airween]

@Neustradamus,

@lloyd: It is possible to move your repository in a GitHub organization and add a new team?

I was thinking about the same. I thought the org name yajl would be fine, but it seems like already used - and it has (one and) only (also unmaintained) repository.

Our project (ModSecurity) actively uses yajl, so we definitely need this library. There is an intention to replace it, but if it possible I would keep this - with a maintained version of course.

Are here any volunteers to help to create a new organization and continue the work?

[Neustradamus]

@airween: Thanks for your comment :)

I have sent a new email to @lloyd to solve this situation, 5 years after the first one.

[robohack]

Guys, it is very important to properly understand one of the fundamental features of "open source".

It is open! It is source code!

• You can copy it and use it as-is
• You can copy and change it and use the changed version
• You can copy and change it and use it and publish your changes!
• You can look for changed versions and use those
• You can look for changed versions, change it some more, and use that
• You can look for changed versions, change them some more and use the result and publish your changes!
• As long as someone is using it, then a project never dies! Even when not used, it remains a historical artifact that can be taken up again at a moment's notice. It's not dead, just resting.

Github makes all of these options extremely easy!

Sure it's nice to respect the original author, but it's not necessary to restrict your use of some code to just and only what the original author offered. It's especially not helpful to complain that you think a project is dead or unmaintained when you have all those options above! And you already have a copy of the code!

As I said above: There are lots of forks of lloyd/yajl, some actively worked on.

Also, as I said above, there are copies of the project, perhaps many in many places, including my own (which started as a fork and was split off with the help of Github):: https://github.com/robohack/yajl

[airween]

As I said above: There are lots of forks of lloyd/yajl,

I think the main root cause only is this. Lots of forks 😃.

The question is which one should we follow?

I see it's open and the source is there - but where is the community? Who will help to maintain? Who will organize the project? I think this is what makes a project good, not the number of forks.

Just my 2 cents...

[Neustradamus]

@robohack: I know what is "open source", and I suppose that @airween too.

It is better to recover the upstream to update this project.
It is used by a lot of other projects.
There are a lot of forks, watchers, stars.

A simple new fork will lost all and it will be same if this repository is removed.

It is for this, I have contacted @lloyd in 2019 on GitHub and in 2020 by e-mail.

It is for this, it is better to move into a GitHub organization.
A transfer of this repository will add redirections, all current links will be redirected, no lost...

[robohack]

Really?

If you can't figure out which fork to use for your own purposes, or what do to do maintain your own fork, are you really sure you should be using the code in the first place?

@lloyd himself wrote "fork and fix".

Community?

YOU and I are the community! You and I will help maintain it! You and I will help organize it!

Just because there was a beginning in one place doesn't mean it can only ever continue in that one place. It's source code, and it has an open license! You can copy and use it as you need, from wherever you find the best version.

Indeed it would be nice for there to be one central place for people to post about problems or solutions or new features, but it's not the end of the world if there are two or ten such places.

When it became obvious to me that @lloyd wasn't interested in working on this code any more I asked Github to break my fork off into an independent repository so I could have full control over my PRs and Issues and such for my own version, and they did so almost immediately.

I keep an eye on this original repository and other forks and copies that out there in case there are interesting bug reports or new submissions, but I have no interest in going back -- I'm quite happy with my own ability to manage my own copy of the code.

People who blindly follow old stale links and end up at an old stale repository and who don't have the initiative to look further for newer copies aren't really part of the community anyway.

[airween]

First of all: English is not my native language, pleas do not misunderstand me. Obviously I don't want to offend anyone.

If you can't figure out which fork to use for your own purposes, or what do to do maintain your own fork, are you really sure you should be using the code in the first place?

@lloyd himself wrote "fork and fix".

IMHO this is the this is the worst approach.

I think if anyone has this attitude, who would care with users? I mean if a user (like me - at this moment) who doesn't care about the code itself, which repository should choose? How can make a decision a package maintainer for an operating system?

Community?

YOU and I are the community! You and I will help maintain it! You and I will help organize it!

Sorry to ask, but have you seen how many pending PR's there are? What can you or me do to help to maintain the project? If I make a patch, how will be that applied (to the repository where all users know that's the official)?

Just because there was a beginning in one place doesn't mean it can only ever continue in that one place. It's source code, and it has an open license! You can copy and use it as you need, from wherever you find the best version.

This is what I'm talking about and I risk @Neustradamus too: where can we/anyone continue the work, which will be an "official" like repository. Where package maintainers can pick up PR's, can informed about new releases...?

Indeed it would be nice for there to be one central place for people to post about problems or solutions or new features, but it's not the end of the world if there are two or ten such places.

My opinion: if a project don't release new versions, don't apply pending PR's, then it's dead.

When it became obvious to me that @lloyd wasn't interested in working on this code any more I asked Github to break my fork off into an independent repository so I could have full control over my PRs and Issues and such for my own version, and they did so almost immediately.

Then that will be your own version. How users will be informed that you want to continue maintenance?

I keep an eye on this original repository and other forks and copies that out there in case there are interesting bug reports or new submissions, but I have no interest in going back -- I'm quite happy with my own ability to manage my own copy of the code.

So, do you expect that every affected user needs to follow both original repository and all forks? Wouldn't it be better to keep all necessary information in one hand (under one "common" organization and repository)?

People who blindly follow old stale links and end up at an old stale repository and who don't have the initiative to look further for newer copies aren't really part of the community anyway.

I don't follow old stale links. My problem is that I don't want to follow "other forks and copies" either. I would like to follow one, up-to-date repository, which informs me and all affected users about new releases, bugfixes, and every important information.

Btw meanwhile I made a lookup in Debian package, and it seems like the maintainer also has a fork. But as I explained in my first comment, a user and packager of ModSecurity reported RH removed yaml.

[robohack]

This weird obsession with "official repository" for some neglected open source project is beyond my understanding.

I've got what I want from this project, i.e. the original code. I'm happy to maintain my version for as long as I continue to need it. If you wish to use it, be my guest! It is open source! PRs will be reviewed, issues considered!

I expect everyone who wants/needs to use this code to understand how to maintain it for their needs, regardless of whether the original author, or someone else, also collects and publishes fixes and features.

As-is this "original" repository still sits here, and people occasionally post new issues and PRs here, so it's not that dead.