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The Open Source Junkyard

The Open Source Junkyard

RailsConf 2014 Chicago
About how gem maintainers need help else gems get abandoned and it hurts the end-user (us).
Was a lightning talk but I prepared, but we ran out of time.

Benjamin Fleischer

April 24, 2014
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Transcript

  1. The Open Source
    Junkyard
    Benjamin Fleischer
    bf@benjaminfleischer.com
    github.com/bf4 twitter.com/hazula
    http://www.polleverywhere.com/devbenjamin

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  2. Where do the gems
    we use come from?

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  3. !
    !
    !
    !

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  4. People.
    Like me and you.

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  5. We depend on altruism
    !
    !
    !
    !
    • http://www.confreaks.com/videos/2901-
    rubyconf2013-maintaining-sanity

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  6. Important code maintained
    by only a few

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  7. So many ways to
    leave a gem behind

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  8. There’s no gem
    maintainer hotline
    nor gem clearinghouse

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  9. A tweet for help

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  10. Maintainer Classifieds
    http://stillmaintained.com/sferik/merb-admin

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  11. Abandonment notice in README

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  12. !
    !
    !
    !
    Users ask about maintenance

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  13. Posting on a list

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  14. Leaving behind the abandoned

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  15. Trusting a contributor

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  16. Accidental ownership

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  17. Github commit isn’t enough

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  18. Taking Ownership
    • 1) Get repository (GitHub) commit / ownership
    • Need GitHub username. Add to access group.
    • 2) Get rubygems.org push access
    • Need email for rubygems.org account
    • gem owner -a dev@benjaminfleischer.com
    • 3) Rubyforge? Mailing List? Twitter account? IRC?

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  19. Transferring ownership

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  20. Curating contributors

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  21. RubyGems.org can
    only do so much.
    It’s a lot of work.
    http://help.rubygems.org/discussions/questions/122-abandoned-gem-requesting-maintainership

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  22. How do I
    complain help out?

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  23. Bless a fork
    Otherwise there’s no place for people to
    contribute back to

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  24. CodeTriage.com

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  25. Let’s Discuss:
    !
    github.com/howto-ruby/
    rubygems-style-guide/wiki
    Benjamin Fleischer
    bf@benjaminfleischer.com
    github.com/bf4 twitter.com/hazula

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  26. The Twitter Gem and Ruby
    Hero Erik Michaels-Ober
    • Further Reading:
    • http://rubyrogues.com/127-rr-erik-michaels-ober/ grep for maintain
    • ERIK: It was basically just a giant yak shave. I think I just started working on it and then I
    said… So I … and then just so I just became the de facto maintainer of that.
    • KATRINA: What’s the most challenging aspect of maintaining a big popular project like the
    twitter gem?
    • ERIK: I don’t know. To me, I love it.

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