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.

Transcript

1. The Open Source Junkyard Benjamin Fleischer bf@benjaminfleischer.com github.com/bf4 twitter.com/hazula http://www.polleverywhere.com/devbenjamin
2. Where do the gems we use come from?
3. ! ! ! !
4. People. Like me and you.
5. We depend on altruism ! ! ! ! • http://www.confreaks.com/videos/2901- rubyconf2013-maintaining-sanity
6. Important code maintained by only a few
7. So many ways to leave a gem behind
8. There’s no gem maintainer hotline nor gem clearinghouse
9. A tweet for help
10. Maintainer Classifieds http://stillmaintained.com/sferik/merb-admin
11. Abandonment notice in README
12. ! ! ! ! Users ask about maintenance
13. Posting on a list
14. Leaving behind the abandoned
15. Trusting a contributor
16. Accidental ownership
17. Github commit isn’t enough
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?
19. Transferring ownership
20. Curating contributors
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
22. How do I complain help out?
23. Bless a fork Otherwise there’s no place for people to contribute back to
24. CodeTriage.com
25. Let’s Discuss: ! github.com/howto-ruby/ rubygems-style-guide/wiki Benjamin Fleischer bf@benjaminfleischer.com github.com/bf4 twitter.com/hazula
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 <yadda yadda> 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.