OpenSource

Generally, open source refers to a computer program in which the source code is available to the general public for use or modification from its original design. Code is released under the terms of a software license. Depending on the license terms, others may then download, modify, and publish their version (fork) back to the community.

Denied entry?

The Open Source community has been through some interesting times over the last five years. COVID19 created a situation where many of our community who were at greater risk of its effects were effectively denied access to in person events. The community did a lot, frankly not enough at times, to facilitate access with things like mask mandates, remote participation etc. Now, we find another barrier to participation – extreme politics.

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Community Driven Development

For many years in the Drupal community, I’ve found that my greatest pleasure is not in actually creating the next awesome feature (and, wow, we have some awesome features coming…) but in helping to mentor those who will in the future. Recently, an opportunity came up that interested me a lot. Cambridge University Press & Assessment were looking for a seasoned Drupal developer to help grow the in-house team as they deliver projects built on the platform. I could hardly say no! I very much wanted to look at how better active participation in the community can be a key driver for development of the team’s capabilities..

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Oooh - I can ride down that track...

England and Wales have a somewhat arcane but interesting set of laws around what tracks are rideable by motorcycle. Some of them are nice simple lanes that could be ridden on any motorcycle by anyone. Others appear to be just a jumble of rocks that need a superstar to ride.

I must come back and write more about the laws but what interests me right now is being able to identify those rights of way and being able to navigate along them when I'm out for a ride.

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There's a wider story to tell in overland travel content

I don't think I'm known for keeping quiet about my love of overland travel, especially by motorcycle. Jumping on my KTM and heading off in search of distant lands is what my life is about these days.

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Let me tell you that for peasants like me

Some years ago, after a DrupalCon in the US, I received a direct message. It was kind of shocking and has been on my mind on and off ever since...

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Let’s try Mastodon

I’ve been thinking of giving Mastodon a try and created an account for myself.

As Twitter continues to self-destruct, I’ll move over more and more to Mastodon. And here is how:

The people of open source always deliver

I’m constantly amazed how happy the people I know in open source are willing to help out. I needed some open source people to each record a short interview where I asked them about their motivations for contributing to open source projects, what things in projects might be detractors and, finally, what they see as their reward.

Well, I put out a quick tweet asking if anyone might be able to take part and I had half a dozen volunteers in only a few minutes!

Is a project meeting “activity” or “documentation”?

It has been interesting talking with colleagues about how we best record things like meetings in the project I’m now involved in, GovStack.

To encourage contribution, volunteer contributors, especially but not exclusively, need to feel that the decision making in the project is clear and open - there should never be a difficulty in finding how decisions were made.

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Giving hard recognition for notable contributions - an idea

Whilst sat in our regular FOSS Foundations Working Group meeting, Duane O’Brien raised a tweet from Nicolas Zakas at ESlint. We were all intrigued by the concept and it started me wondering what it might look like in a Drupal context.

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Signing the open letter calling for the removal of Richard Stallman (RMS) from the FSF Board

Last night, along with thousands of other free software and open source community members, I signed the open letter calling for Richard Stallman, otherwise known as RMS, to step down from the Free Software Federation's board, and the rest of the board to also step down.

Thank you to Josh Simmons for bringing the letter to my, and many other people's, attention: