On 12/08/2014 18:30, Michael Niedermayer wrote:
Also ive offered my resignation in the past. I do still offer to
resign from the FFmpeg leader position, if it resolves this split
between FFmpeg and Libav and make everyone work together again.
Hi Michael,
sorry to come late to the party, but I just wanted to say that I am very
glad that you think in this way. I do not fully understand why this
could not have happened three years ago, but let bygones be bygones. For
what is worth, in my personal opinion, you could even stay appointed as
"the leader", after all noone better than you represents the ffmpeg way
of thinking, and you've got some PR skills which are rare to find in
technical people.
However there are other more practical problems. For example, FFmpeg
merges patches daily and this over time has created a somewhat difficult
to navigate git tree, it's enough to go back one year that you start
having 4 or 5 layers of branching and bisecting is more complex than it
needs it to be. I am not saying that the theoretical merged project
should use Libav tree either, but would you cooperate in the creation of
a single linear history where merges are not allowed?
Other problem might be the name of this shared project, it's clear that
the ffmpeg of the past ended with the split and the "mpeg" term is a
company trademark anyway. I think /ffav/ would not sound that bad and
would represent the new spirit of this collaboration, where everyone is
treated as equals and respect each other work (and person).
The part i insist on though is that everyone must be able to work on
their code without people uninvolved in that specific parts maintaince
or authorship being able to block their work.
I don't think anyone would object to that, but there are of course many
more problems to unwind. This might be quite long (and perhaps tedious)
to discuss by email, so I would think that the best place to talk about
a possible merge would be at the upcoming VDD in Dublin, where the whole
group could meet, discuss problems, outline the new project policies and
design goal and similar topics.
If you are not able to attend (or do not want to), I am afraid the split
will never resolve -- remember that open source is made of people, not
of features, and people like to talk to each other.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Vittorio
