4 ms·

Thanks for pointing that out, more info about why the name was changed is on the Debian list server: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-mai

Thanks for pointing that out, more info about why the name was changed is on the Debian list server: http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-maintainers/2012-May/026678.html http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-main...

ars 13y ago
It's really not nice how they treated him. In general his packages are better than the debian ones (where they duplicate). Harm to users - right. I've been using dmo for at least 7 years and if I had any problems in that time I don't remember it.
- lordgilman 13y ago
  At the same time, Stefan (the DPL) asked nicely [1] twice, a year ago, for the owner to transfer the domain to Debian. He even had the foresight to point out the renewal race condition which Debian lost recently resulting in the press release. The debian-multimedia guy is just being spiteful at this point given that Debian's been nothing but diplomatic. [1] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-maintainers/2012-May/027482.html http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-main...
  - ars 13y ago
    > Debian's been nothing but diplomatic. No they weren't. They kept insulting him. I personally would have overlooked that and transferred it anyway, but I can understand why he didn't. Must have been a tough time for him.
  - foobarbazqux 13y ago
    They present two options. Option 1 is he does nothing and they risk having to pay lawyers to get the domain, which they are clearly willing to do. Option 2 is that he takes 5 minutes and helps them out for free. Since they were willing to pay lawyers to get the domain, it seems like paying him perhaps $100 or so would have made the issue go away. They probably insulted him, perhaps unintentionally, by indicating that they would monetarily value a professional's time but not his, where each was a different means to the same end.
    - ars 13y ago
      I doubt he wants money, he wants appreciation for the hard work he does. For years he was the only realistic way to get videos to play on debian. Instead he gets insults ("your packages harm users"), when actually his packages help users. And now, finally years later, debian got some multimedia programs into debian, and they want him to go away. Not really the right way to treat someone who made your distribution useful for a whole class of people for years.
      - lordgilman 13y ago
        And his packages help users even more if he can get his changes into Debian or (even better) upstream. Forking is sometimes unavoidable but it's never ideal. I think the maintainer is just trying to maintain his fiefdom otherwise you'd see him petitioning Debian and upstream with pulls. These software projects are just as much about social relationships and sharing as they are about code. That's why I see the maintainer's actions as petty, even if you're insulted by the DDs it's never worth it to stoop to a petty level.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
        Nursie 13y ago
        "And his packages help users even more if he can get his changes into Debian or (even better) upstream." Some of his packages (AFAICT) are built from upstream sources, but configured to include capabilities that the debian folk won't or can't build into theirs, like mplayer. Others are packages excluded from debian entirely for these reasons, like libdvdcss. The maintainer is providing the user who doesn't care about, or who is not in a jurisdiction where they have to care about it, a whole bunch of codecs and capabilities that the base distro doesn't and will not include.

ars 13y ago

It's really not nice how they treated him. In general his packages are better than the debian ones (where they duplicate). Harm to users - right. I've been using dmo for at least 7 years and if I had any problems in that time I don't remember it.

lordgilman 13y ago
At the same time, Stefan (the DPL) asked nicely [1] twice, a year ago, for the owner to transfer the domain to Debian. He even had the foresight to point out the renewal race condition which Debian lost recently resulting in the press release. The debian-multimedia guy is just being spiteful at this point given that Debian's been nothing but diplomatic. [1] http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-maintainers/2012-May/027482.html http://lists.alioth.debian.org/pipermail/pkg-multimedia-main...
- ars 13y ago
  > Debian's been nothing but diplomatic. No they weren't. They kept insulting him. I personally would have overlooked that and transferred it anyway, but I can understand why he didn't. Must have been a tough time for him.
- foobarbazqux 13y ago
  They present two options. Option 1 is he does nothing and they risk having to pay lawyers to get the domain, which they are clearly willing to do. Option 2 is that he takes 5 minutes and helps them out for free. Since they were willing to pay lawyers to get the domain, it seems like paying him perhaps $100 or so would have made the issue go away. They probably insulted him, perhaps unintentionally, by indicating that they would monetarily value a professional's time but not his, where each was a different means to the same end.
  - ars 13y ago
    I doubt he wants money, he wants appreciation for the hard work he does. For years he was the only realistic way to get videos to play on debian. Instead he gets insults ("your packages harm users"), when actually his packages help users. And now, finally years later, debian got some multimedia programs into debian, and they want him to go away. Not really the right way to treat someone who made your distribution useful for a whole class of people for years.
    - lordgilman 13y ago
      And his packages help users even more if he can get his changes into Debian or (even better) upstream. Forking is sometimes unavoidable but it's never ideal. I think the maintainer is just trying to maintain his fiefdom otherwise you'd see him petitioning Debian and upstream with pulls. These software projects are just as much about social relationships and sharing as they are about code. That's why I see the maintainer's actions as petty, even if you're insulted by the DDs it's never worth it to stoop to a petty level.
      - deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
      - Nursie 13y ago
        "And his packages help users even more if he can get his changes into Debian or (even better) upstream." Some of his packages (AFAICT) are built from upstream sources, but configured to include capabilities that the debian folk won't or can't build into theirs, like mplayer. Others are packages excluded from debian entirely for these reasons, like libdvdcss. The maintainer is providing the user who doesn't care about, or who is not in a jurisdiction where they have to care about it, a whole bunch of codecs and capabilities that the base distro doesn't and will not include.