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I have written a few bots using the discord.py library, and while I appreciate the hard work the developers have put in, and I can appreciate wanting to leave t

by aquova 5y ago

I have written a few bots using the discord.py library, and while I appreciate the hard work the developers have put in, and I can appreciate wanting to leave the scene, this puts a bad taste in my mouth. I and many others relied on this library to interface with the Discord service only for them to abruptly archive the repository with no warning, and then suddenly decide to return just as quickly. What guarantees do I have that they won't just up and leave again? They said that the Python Discord bot scene is in disarray, a situation that A. they themselves caused and B. isn't even true. A number of forks spun off of the original repository and some have continued promising feature work (https://github.com/Pycord-Development/pycord https://github.com/Pycord-Development/pycord is the one I had identified as the fork I was planning to switch to). Looking at the contributors, it looks like there are now two completing efforts with zero collaboration between them. I get the impression that there was a large amount of behind the scenes drama, with the archival of the repository done simply to attract attention.

scode2 5y ago
I think that the developer deserves more credit. Being an open source maintainer is difficult and when the maintainer of discord.py initially quit they cited being busy elsewhere in life as part of the decision. I don't think a maintainer should be pressured to work on something just so that the ecosystem is more centralized, although it would have helped to have nominated someone to continue the project instead of archiving it. Open source software has no guarantee of stability and it is largely discord's fault that SDKs must continuously be maintained by the community in this fashion.
benatkin 5y ago
In the article the author said: > I was hopeful that after half a year that there would be a clear alternative library that most users can transparently migrate to, but it seems that this never ended up materialising. So I think the author agrees it would be nice if the ecosystem kept moving forward. pycord is a fork. Why didn't the author of pycord start a new project? I think the author of the article was hoping for a new project that isn't a fork.
- CrazyStat 5y ago
  Why start over from scratch if there's a reasonable base to build from? Isn't that kind of the whole point of open source?
  - rezonant 5y ago
    Yeah this notion that you wouldn't simply fork is perhaps indicative of that angst others are talking about
EdwardDiego 5y ago
> What guarantees do I have that they won't just up and leave again? None. It's open source.
npteljes 5y ago
No one had any guarantees in the first place.

by aquova 5y ago

scode2 5y ago

I think that the developer deserves more credit. Being an open source maintainer is difficult and when the maintainer of discord.py initially quit they cited being busy elsewhere in life as part of the decision. I don't think a maintainer should be pressured to work on something just so that the ecosystem is more centralized, although it would have helped to have nominated someone to continue the project instead of archiving it. Open source software has no guarantee of stability and it is largely discord's fault that SDKs must continuously be maintained by the community in this fashion.

benatkin 5y ago

In the article the author said: > I was hopeful that after half a year that there would be a clear alternative library that most users can transparently migrate to, but it seems that this never ended up materialising. So I think the author agrees it would be nice if the ecosystem kept moving forward. pycord is a fork. Why didn't the author of pycord start a new project? I think the author of the article was hoping for a new project that isn't a fork.

CrazyStat 5y ago
Why start over from scratch if there's a reasonable base to build from? Isn't that kind of the whole point of open source?
- rezonant 5y ago
  Yeah this notion that you wouldn't simply fork is perhaps indicative of that angst others are talking about

EdwardDiego 5y ago

> What guarantees do I have that they won't just up and leave again? None. It's open source.

npteljes 5y ago

No one had any guarantees in the first place.