From 6e8e37406d16a09e4cfbe77bfba3a8d64279e473 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Katharina Fey Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2021 22:41:15 +0100 Subject: website: publish qaul fork announcement --- infra/website/content/blog/120_qaul.md | 104 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 104 insertions(+) create mode 100644 infra/website/content/blog/120_qaul.md diff --git a/infra/website/content/blog/120_qaul.md b/infra/website/content/blog/120_qaul.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..9401194fb441 --- /dev/null +++ b/infra/website/content/blog/120_qaul.md @@ -0,0 +1,104 @@ +Title: qaul: history of a fork +Category: Blog +Date: 2021-02-04 +Tags: /dev/diary, qaul + +**TLDR:** we're forking qaul.net to [**qaul**](https://qaul.org)! +This includes myself, and four other developers who have been +on-and-off working on qaul in their free time over the last year. We +have a new domain, have largely rebranded the existing code-base and +website, and are submitting [Google Summer of Code +projects](https://projects.freifunk.net/#/projects) to find people who +would like to contribute code while getting paid. + + +## The background + +If you're a regular follower of my work, you may know that I've been +the lead developer of a project called `qaul.net`, a decentralised +mesh routing application and app development toolkit. The project +itself is not mine and was started around 2011; I joined it in 2016 as +part of my Google Summer of Code. But I quickly took over a lot of +the core planning and development aspects, and even worked on it as my +full-time research job from 2019 to 2020. + +In the summer of 2020, the Open Tech Fund, which was funding +development on the project, was defunded, and development stopped for +a few months. During this time, I was also recovering from some +health issues, and needed to take a break from the project. + + +## Where things went wrong + +Software projects are social entities of the people who work on them, +not merely technical problems to be solved. And while I have enjoyed +my time working on qaul.net, I also feel like I can no longer overlook +the problems in how the project is organised. I don't want to talk +about the specifics, and I won't mention anyone by name. A lot of my +issues with the project revolve around how one of the original +maintainer sees the project itself, and his role compared to others +who work with him. + +Ultimately, social relationships, whether personal or professional, +need to be rooted in mutual respect and understanding. Neither of +those two are the case with regards to the original maintainer in +question. + +Over the last year and a half, I have repeatedly brought up issues +with him, about his conduct, the way that he approached my work, and +our interactions, and have tried to engage with him in conversation +about our working relationship, and how we might improve it. In all +of this time, I don't think that I have had a single productive +conversation with him, as equals. + +It became apparent to me, that working with this person would continue +to negatively affect my mental health, and so I (with the help of some +amazing friends!) made preparations to fork the project. + + +## Why now? + +Initially we were planning to keep this as a very soft fork. The +"upstream" project wasn't really doing anything. Nobody except me was +putting in code at that time, and it was a happy neutral ground where +we were prepared to take the project in a different direction, but +didn't need to force the issue. + +Yesterday, the originial maintainer announced that qaul.net had +received new funding. He e-mailed me to inform me that he had undone +a bunch of work I had put in to improve our website and also removed +my access from most of our infrastructure. + +It became apparent that a low-key fork was no longer possible. So +instead, we went ahead with some of the final rebranding we had been +putting off, and are going ahead with the fork. + + +## Why write this? + +I want to work or qaul, whether I get paid for it or not. I'm in the +fortunate position of being able to put in time on the project while +doing other jobs, or in between clients. + +My main concearn is not having to interact with the orginial +maintainer in question on a regular basis, and not working in a +structure which is authoritarily structured around him. + +I write this blog post as a warning to anyone who is interested in +contributing to qaul*.net*, and might have to interact with this +person as well. + +It would make me very happy to see more people engage with qaul and +getting paid for their work. I simply fear that people might be +walking into an abusive situation without being aware of the history. +And thus...this post. + +Ultimately, I'm mostly relieved. The last attempt to communicate I +made was back in Novemeber, and since then I had heard next to nothing +until this announcement. It is clear to me that my opinions and +feelings in this matter are not of importance, and so, I feel +justified to move on. + +Thank you for reading. If you want to learn more about qaul: +https://qaul.org, and if you want to support my work directly, I have +a [GitHub sponsors](https://github.com/sponsors/spacekookie). -- cgit v1.2.3