8 ms·

The claim is that the original is no longer being maintained. Is that true? It changes a lot about what I would think of this move.

by astine 7y ago

codewiz 7y ago
From the git changelog, it doesn't appear to be completely unmaintained, but not very vital either: https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/commits/master https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/commits/master Red Hat's announcement (posted in February 2019), also cites lack of Python 3 support as another reason for replacing the original dstat, but Python 3 compatibility was added last January.
- loeg 7y ago
  pcp-dstat was implemented in 2018, FWIW. The blog post may have been written prior to the January 2019 dstat commits (before which the last commits were in 2016). More color: https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156
- jsnell 7y ago
  The package was removed in Fedora 29, released October 2018.
  - dagwieers 7y ago
    Yes, and the plan to do this was conceived before June 2018.
- dagwieers 7y ago
  Yeah, I added python 3 support after I learned that was the main reason for replacing it. It took me less than an hour to make it work on Python 3, including all (but 2) of the plugins. And given that PCP is using most of the original code, they must have made the same changes to get Python 3 support.
  - appstateguy 7y ago
    maybe you shouldn't have waited until the absolute last minute to do this or it wouldn't have been replaced.
    - dagwieers 7y ago
      I am not sure what you are implying here. I have zero interest in maintaining the project. This was the last blow to a dying project. The king is dead, long live the king.
nightfly 7y ago
The git repo linked here has 6 commits on Jan 16, 2019. And Nov 23, 2016 the last new commits before then.
- loeg 7y ago
  To contrast, Redhat's pcp dstat looks like it was mostly developed during 2018 (a period during which dstat had been totally inactive for 2-3 years): https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp/commits/master/src/pcp/dstat https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp/commits/master/src...
  - tacticus 7y ago
    oh god. it's based on pcp o.O
    - op00to 7y ago
      Why is this significant enough to call it out without explaining why you did so?
  - dagwieers 7y ago
    18 months
jkaplowitz 7y ago
Even if it isn't being maintained, I wish they had changed the name if they were forking or reimplementing without permission. There's a reason trademark law exists and doesn't require registration if you can prove the situation. But yeah, it's a lot harder to fight Red Hat (soon IBM!) over that if the project is inactively maintained and there's no registration. Still, whether legal or not, the name squat is not a good look for Red Hat.
- rlpb 7y ago
  > I wish they had changed the name if they were forking or reimplementing without permission. Has the name not changed to "pcp", or am I missing something? "pcp dstat" appears to be a command, but that seems like a reasonable abbreviation for "hey pcp, please give me a dstat-like interface". [Edit] Correction. https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 says the following, so there is a compatibility symlink using the name "dstat". However the project name appears to be "pcp-dstat" or "pcp dstat". "Since there had been no meaningful work on the old dstat code in years, github PRs were being ignored, community developers requesting access to help were being ignored, and we have customers using it ... we were asked to make this as seamless a transition as possible, provide that compatibility symlink for /usr/bin/dstat to pcp-dstat, and remove the old package from RHEL and Fedora."
  - dagwieers 7y ago
    > community developers requesting access to help were being ignored This is not true, I have not been contacted. I learned from Fedora's decision to replace Dstat with PCP months after it was already decided. So it's not like I have had a choice. The choices I have today are: 1. Continue with a project, while Fedora/RHEL is shipping a tool by the same name (with 90% of my code) 2. Rename the original Dstat project, which would be silly 3. Discontinue the project Option 3 is the path of least resistance. Option 1 and 2 would not bring any joy. At least someone will be paid for maintaining the tool.
    - fooker 7y ago
EwanToo 7y ago
The issue below has more details, it does look more complex than this post suggests? https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156
jasonkester 7y ago
No, the original was finished. Feature complete, bug free software doesn’t need to have patches released every week. That is the ultimate goal of a small utility like this. It’s a shame that so many developers mistake this state for “unmaintained”or “abandoned”.
- nemothekid 7y ago
  The software isn't finished if the runtime it runs on has been EOL'd. dstat, up until earlier this year (a couple weeks before that announcement), did not support Python 3 - and the author may have just merged RedHat's changes anyways. RedHat's "fork" supported Python3 for months at that point. Yes, it was a useful tool, and what RedHat did was shitty but I can understand the motivation for not wanting to keep a Python2 install around just for one tool.
  - mehrdadn 7y ago
    > I can understand the motivation for not wanting to keep a Python2 install around just for one tool. I don't use a Red Hat distro but would this really only be one tool? On Arch I see the following packages depend on python2: mercurial [required], git [optional], texlive-core [optional], graphviz [optional], ...
    - Conan_Kudo 7y ago
      Mercurial 5.0 is Python 3 compatible. The Python code in Git is Python 3 compatible. I don't know about TeXLive or Graphviz, though...
      - mehrdadn 7y ago
        Confused, so why is Python 2 a requirement? Name : mercurial Version : 5.0-1 Description : A scalable distributed SCM tool Depends On : python2 Optional Deps : tk: for the hgk GUI [installed] Required By : None Optional For : None Conflicts With : None Replaces : None Installed Size : 25.95 MiB

The claim is that the original is no longer being maintained. Is that true? It changes a lot about what I would think of this move.

by astine 7y ago

The claim is that the original is no longer being maintained. Is that true? It changes a lot about what I would think of this move.

codewiz 7y ago

From the git changelog, it doesn't appear to be completely unmaintained, but not very vital either: https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/commits/master https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/commits/master Red Hat's announcement (posted in February 2019), also cites lack of Python 3 support as another reason for replacing the original dstat, but Python 3 compatibility was added last January.

loeg 7y ago
pcp-dstat was implemented in 2018, FWIW. The blog post may have been written prior to the January 2019 dstat commits (before which the last commits were in 2016). More color: https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156
jsnell 7y ago
The package was removed in Fedora 29, released October 2018.
- dagwieers 7y ago
  Yes, and the plan to do this was conceived before June 2018.
dagwieers 7y ago
Yeah, I added python 3 support after I learned that was the main reason for replacing it. It took me less than an hour to make it work on Python 3, including all (but 2) of the plugins. And given that PCP is using most of the original code, they must have made the same changes to get Python 3 support.
- appstateguy 7y ago
  maybe you shouldn't have waited until the absolute last minute to do this or it wouldn't have been replaced.
  - dagwieers 7y ago
    I am not sure what you are implying here. I have zero interest in maintaining the project. This was the last blow to a dying project. The king is dead, long live the king.

nightfly 7y ago

The git repo linked here has 6 commits on Jan 16, 2019. And Nov 23, 2016 the last new commits before then.

loeg 7y ago
To contrast, Redhat's pcp dstat looks like it was mostly developed during 2018 (a period during which dstat had been totally inactive for 2-3 years): https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp/commits/master/src/pcp/dstat https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp/commits/master/src...
- tacticus 7y ago
  oh god. it's based on pcp o.O
  - op00to 7y ago
    Why is this significant enough to call it out without explaining why you did so?
- dagwieers 7y ago
  18 months

jkaplowitz 7y ago

Even if it isn't being maintained, I wish they had changed the name if they were forking or reimplementing without permission. There's a reason trademark law exists and doesn't require registration if you can prove the situation. But yeah, it's a lot harder to fight Red Hat (soon IBM!) over that if the project is inactively maintained and there's no registration. Still, whether legal or not, the name squat is not a good look for Red Hat.

rlpb 7y ago
> I wish they had changed the name if they were forking or reimplementing without permission. Has the name not changed to "pcp", or am I missing something? "pcp dstat" appears to be a command, but that seems like a reasonable abbreviation for "hey pcp, please give me a dstat-like interface". [Edit] Correction. https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 says the following, so there is a compatibility symlink using the name "dstat". However the project name appears to be "pcp-dstat" or "pcp dstat". "Since there had been no meaningful work on the old dstat code in years, github PRs were being ignored, community developers requesting access to help were being ignored, and we have customers using it ... we were asked to make this as seamless a transition as possible, provide that compatibility symlink for /usr/bin/dstat to pcp-dstat, and remove the old package from RHEL and Fedora."
- dagwieers 7y ago
  > community developers requesting access to help were being ignored This is not true, I have not been contacted. I learned from Fedora's decision to replace Dstat with PCP months after it was already decided. So it's not like I have had a choice. The choices I have today are: 1. Continue with a project, while Fedora/RHEL is shipping a tool by the same name (with 90% of my code) 2. Rename the original Dstat project, which would be silly 3. Discontinue the project Option 3 is the path of least resistance. Option 1 and 2 would not bring any joy. At least someone will be paid for maintaining the tool.
  - fooker 7y ago

EwanToo 7y ago

The issue below has more details, it does look more complex than this post suggests? https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156

jasonkester 7y ago

No, the original was finished. Feature complete, bug free software doesn’t need to have patches released every week. That is the ultimate goal of a small utility like this. It’s a shame that so many developers mistake this state for “unmaintained”or “abandoned”.

nemothekid 7y ago
The software isn't finished if the runtime it runs on has been EOL'd. dstat, up until earlier this year (a couple weeks before that announcement), did not support Python 3 - and the author may have just merged RedHat's changes anyways. RedHat's "fork" supported Python3 for months at that point. Yes, it was a useful tool, and what RedHat did was shitty but I can understand the motivation for not wanting to keep a Python2 install around just for one tool.
- mehrdadn 7y ago
  > I can understand the motivation for not wanting to keep a Python2 install around just for one tool. I don't use a Red Hat distro but would this really only be one tool? On Arch I see the following packages depend on python2: mercurial [required], git [optional], texlive-core [optional], graphviz [optional], ...
  - Conan_Kudo 7y ago
    Mercurial 5.0 is Python 3 compatible. The Python code in Git is Python 3 compatible. I don't know about TeXLive or Graphviz, though...
    - mehrdadn 7y ago
      Confused, so why is Python 2 a requirement? Name : mercurial Version : 5.0-1 Description : A scalable distributed SCM tool Depends On : python2 Optional Deps : tk: for the hgk GUI [installed] Required By : None Optional For : None Conflicts With : None Replaces : None Installed Size : 25.95 MiB