[IMC-Tech] Re: [webcoders] active / indymedia / cat relationship

[Ben Ross]

On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Matthew Arnison wrote:

> arthur recently posted a message to imc-tech that pulled together well a
> lot of important long term technical and organisational issues for
> indymedia.
> 
> my main response to it is thinking strategically around the software part
> of the project.
> 
> i think the "active" software that indymedia.org uses, should remain a
> separate project from imc-tech. atleast i've always thought of it that
> way.

I totally agree. It would make the active software a lot easier to run as
a growing software project if it had its own goals and independent
organisation, with ideas and development contribution coming from
indymedia, as well as other sites using active.

It would help more sites use active for their own purposes and
consequently attract more developers.

Another problem with not having a focussed software organisation in its
own right, is that it is much more likely for the code to become forked,
and harder to merge changes & features from disparate sites.

> i realise this may appear to be some kind of power grab to some people,
> and in a way it is. i am hoping the members of the active programming team
> (webcoders) can identify and claim their collective power. i am a member
> of that team, so this is my stab at it.

If a power grab, then it is a benign power grab. It would help the
software to become technically better, more flexible, easier to install on
non-indymedia sites etc, at the same time as providing all the features
required by anyone contributing to the project.

Ben.