Re: [Gimp-print-devel] OSX support (Was Re: CITIZEN photo printers)

[Solomon P. <pi...@sh...>]

On Sun, Feb 18, 2018 at 01:59:32PM -0500, Robert Krawitz wrote:
> We're not a corporate entity that can contract with outside parties
> for something like this.  

Out of curiousity, have you ever given any thought to joining the SFC 
or similar group that could provide a legal umbrella for Gutenprint?

> My personal preference -- and again, I'm speaking my own opinion here,
> although it's a little hard to separate from my role as Gutenprint
> project lead -- would be for an engagement model similar to Datamax
> O'Neill, where Steve is seconded to the project and participates
> actively, with commit privileges and all that.

I've expressed this desire to Citizen, but unfortunatley they lack the 
[appropriately-skilled] resources to directly engage in this way.  In 
time, this may change though, especially if this endeavor comes to 
fruition and is ultimately successful.

> GPL needs to be a given.  There are ways of layering something
> proprietary on top of Gutenprint without violating the GPL, and while
> that's legal, it's not something I want to distribute in Gutenprint.

That was one of my main concerns, and I'm glad to say that they seem to 
be completely on board with the GPL's terms -- in particular the source 
code requirements and the lack of restrictions on field-of-use.

> I'm not entirely averse to distributing components that are by their
> nature specific to a particular make or model.  We already have a few
> of those, escputil and the dyesub backend.  A nice control panel or
> status monitor would be a useful contribution, as long as it's not
> gratuitously tied to a particular make or requires use of components
> that are not themselves GPL2+-compliant.  But if they wanted to donate
> a control panel or status monitor with a reasonable and extensible
> architecture, and instantiate only Citizen printers in it, that's
> perfectly fine.  It's not their job to support other printers; if we
> want to support other printers in it, it's reasonable for them to tell
> us that we have to do the heavy lifting.

For now, they don't seem to seek anything special layered on top, and 
have already expressed a strong desire to not fund work that (directly) 
benefits non-Citizen models.

I believe I've accurately conveyed (and agree with) your position.

 * * * * * *

Meanwhile, here's where things more or less stand:

  * Citizen acknowledges that Gutenprint is only provided under "open 
    source" (specifically, GNU GPL) terms so there can be no expectation 
    of secrets in anything released.
  * Citizen is happy with telling OSX (and Linux) users to download
    a Gutenprint-branded driver package that also supports non-Citizen
    printers.  Citizen would prefer to host downloads, at least for
    OSX releases.
  * Citizen does not currently need any new features (especially
    OSX-specific ones), but would like a rough roadmap of our current 
    plans and may want to fund those and/or other features they deem 
    important.  All developments would become part of Gutenprint proper.
  * Citizen will likely need out-of-band binary release packages 
    generated (eg bugfixes or features, new OS releases, new printer
    models)
  * Initial focus is on OSX, Linux is sort of coming along for the ride.
    Citizen's main interest on Linux is ARM platforms like the Raspberry 
    Pi, so there's a strong desire to provide updated distro packages there.
  * Citizen is very pleased with the output quality of Gutenprint, which 
    is better out-of-the-box than their current OSX drivers. (Yay us!)
  * So far, the only specific bugs/quirks brought up have been minor in 
    nature; all of their current models work out-of-the-box with (nearly)
    full feature coverage. It's likely a formal QA cycle will identify 
    issues that will need addressing.
  * We're working on an NDA to continue discussions and provide access 
    to documentation.  They will also make available a technical contact.
  * We are negotiating details about scope of support; I anticipate being
    able to provide everything they are asking for, although some 
    equipment will need to be purchased -- eg a spectrophotometer to 
    generate ICC profiles, and a Mac to generate OSX builds.
  * We(I) would perform first-pass QA on releases, but Citizen would 
    handle more comprehensive QA, and provide first/second-tier OSX 
    support.  For Linux support, status quo for the time being.

So, at this point, there's very little new development scoped out; this 
discussion is mostly a matter of setting expectations and getting the 
ducks neatly lined up so if there is a problem they (and I) are 
comfortable with our/my ability to support them.

There was one other thing that came up.  I'll just post it verbatim:

  I’m a marketing/sales guy and I’m still scratching my head about how 
  I will promote this? “Citizen announces it will use Gutenprint 
  drivers for all Mac users”. Please  think about this as my PR agency 
  has a global reach (Petapixel, DP review etc.).  We need to align 
  both the techie and marketing components.

My response was that I'd see what everyone else thought about this, but 
that IMO Gutenprint has no particular need or want for publicity, unless 
it leads to more contributions.  

(I think we'll be happy if they properly comply with the GPL and 
 it's made clear to their customers that they should contact Citizen for 
 support rather than us..)

 - Solomon
-- 
Solomon Peachy			       pizza at shaftnet dot org
Coconut Creek, FL                          ^^ (email/xmpp) ^^
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.