Re: [Dspam-devel] Leaving dspam project
Brought to you by:
paulcockings,
sbajic
From: Hendrik V. <hv...@gm...> - 2014-07-09 20:08:40
|
Hi TOm, Though I also love the DSPAMdesign and mechanism(s), spamassasin with it's filters have been a de facto mail filter that almost everybody uses, and that adds to DSPAM's "unknown" status and being forgotten by mail administrators ;( Sorry to see another good project wither away :( Hendrik On Wed, Jul 9, 2014 at 4:04 PM, Tom Hendrikx <to...@wh...> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA256 > > > Hello DSPAM community, > > After a few years of being active in the DSPAM community, I've decided > to leave the project. Unlike others who silently stopped responding to > mails and other inquiries, I'm documenting my reasons in the hopes > that it might be of help/interest to others. > > When I actively joined the DSPAM project, it was in need of some new > blood that helped out on development and other tasks, after most of > the original participants of the community takeover from Sensory > Networks somehow silently abandoned the project for reasons unknown > (to me). > > After being active for a few years, I think I've seen most of the > problems in the DSPAM project, and tried to address a few without > result. The main issues I learned are listed below. > > 1. No active development > - ------------------------ > There is no one working on the DSPAM code. There are numerous bug > reports and feature requests that could be addressed, and some parts > in DSPAM have been ripe for refactoring or rewriting for a long time, > but nobody is putting any effort into it. There is currently only one > developer 'active' within the project, but you rarely see activity > from this person. > The most code changes in the last 2(?) years are from patches > contributed through debian bugreports (thank you, debian maintainer). > The fact that no one within the project is actively working on the > code, creates a sort of chicken-or-egg problem: without existing > activity, no major outside contributions can be expected, since no one > is interested in becoming the new sole responsible developer in the > project. > > 2. No value seen in making DSPAM more transparent > - ------------------------------------------------- > On several occasions I've raised my voice on making DSPAM more usable > to new users, for instance by making error messages more informative, > or adding logging of normal operation (i.e. non-errors) so people get > a better hang of the product. Changes like this don't 'improve' DSPAM > filtering, but the they do make the software easier to use, and its > operation more transparent to new and experienced users. > Finding issues in software is easier when you actually understand what > it's trying to do, which in turn could result in more active users, > more useful bug reports, possible more contributed patches and in the > end maybe even more developers. > Right now DSPAM acts like a sort of black box for anyone not familiar > with the source code, and that discourages investigation of odd > behavior, which could be any of: configuration errors, bugs or missing > (but expected) features. > > 3. No drive on changing the status quo > - -------------------------------------- > The situation that DSPAM is in right now, a sort of dormant or zombie > (not dead but far from alive) status, is not good. It doesn't attract > new users, it doesn't attract new developers, actually it only only > supports existing, experienced users. Nobody in the community, both in > the project maintainers as in the users community, seems to be > interested in changing that. > Based on my observations, that seems that people seem to think that > DSPAM is either feature-complete and bug-free, or they just lack the > motivation/energy/time/whatever to contribute anything. > > Because I care about DSPAM, in the years I've active within the > project all of these issues have bothered me multiple times. I've > tried to address stuff that I could address, or tried to raise > awareness for other things. I didn't get much done though. > - From this I can only conclude that DSPAM is a sort of dead project. > Just like I wouldn't like to get myself (or my company, for instance) > depending on a piece of software in this state, I think that nobody > should get the impression that DSPAM is supported by an active > community, when that support actually never goes beyond answering easy > questions on the users mailing list. > > Therefore I'm resigning as DSPAM release manager, and will remove > myself as project admin from the sourceforge project. I hope others > will take up responsibility for the work I leave behind (and > unattended tasks listed above, or any tasks I didn't point out), so > maybe DPAM will become an active project in the future. > > Kind regards, > Tom Hendrikx > > > PS: I tried to address some of the issues listed above (logging of > regular operation, transparent code (including documentation), easier > ways of contribution) outside of the DSPAM code base itself, which > finally resulted in dspam-milter[1]. I'll continue to develop and > support that software, probably until I'll stop using DSPAM myself. If > I would ever abandon the project, proper notice (just like this one) > will be given. > > [1] https://github.com/whyscream/dspam-milter > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1 > Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ > > iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJTvUviAAoJEJPfMZ19VO/1rBUQANmP1DCmqUMSJ82QnnfnmeBA > nsZmkijQvdvgvqvaitTWs/KpmtlzeojVpxZlRlvCciigqW9kHR1qgvqRBRl246z9 > NZ6EedGIH8yNJbrRTg+KZrFC6UFfg0H6rcGAnwVZoP8xEW0ysND0plnZmCOolXr9 > uApBJw3yPtgNTA4zMAqSnPcHckIvVXSsPqe8Wfw/4Ko1c8UBTk9dTqxBWTIV9bQQ > W3JgdE1m41ihNbWWX9v6Yf9CQqlsow6NeMmxUe/JcD8dhBW1sggxNlTFH+W0a7tw > 1KFSVb8DLo8fWkhNkWytsGxdOoqzgdnk+FyKjKMfcbba/HyrrgI2Q9VJuRnztwVw > Nv3jCUIEbPsikUfBytfkUK3ex3/MisuFhN8BR+Ei+mi3ELTC4CXDUINbNR4uD2A8 > 9WxoBzW5kkr39Yj+AiXnaNsPUDgFpE7bo8500nqkYoKxEe0/psvacfIjPqF2EslF > mzPU7xjmDeXxwelLWVK8Cr0YHVH0J+pEUxq5jd1+Iy0DD7ySGeIb9Uzu9o69f730 > Wg95v/Ijpea4P9mFQdcYppUm5HwbbYwWfB6eQmg4tkh2zXebRXhnvAxN+N94k03c > VdJaTzxXuX/29TPB5CZ7B7BxhwpXv4Aw8AXHcejn4aeIoHz7JmNi0WO6a/Sy0qFs > noK/MrcJsnh3TPcp9HZT > =lxQ5 > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Open source business process management suite built on Java and Eclipse > Turn processes into business applications with Bonita BPM Community Edition > Quickly connect people, data, and systems into organized workflows > Winner of BOSSIE, CODIE, OW2 and Gartner awards > http://p.sf.net/sfu/Bonitasoft > _______________________________________________ > Dspam-devel mailing list > Dsp...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dspam-devel |