Open source roadmap, from the community point of view
asked 2017-09-20 14:36:35 +0300
This post is a wiki. Anyone with karma >75 is welcome to improve it.
This post originates from the discussion during the Sept. 20th 2017 community meeting where it was suggested to provide to Jolla insights of what can be achieved from open sourcing or what is currently blocked by closed source parts in SailfishOS. As depicted in the Sailfish wiki, a lot of OS parts are already open source software, almost all backend services, most QML plugins allowing to directly deal from QML with email, calendars, notifications…, and two system applications. For those interested, most of the sources are openly available at the MER Gitlab repository and the various SailfishOS components are well described in the wiki. Most UI related parts are still closed source though (see this wiki entry - feel free to update this list by the way).
The objective of this wiki is to list and sort out by preference which parts the community would like be open so contributions may come. To be a bit more incentive, this wiki should list also current contributions and how they are blocked by closed source software.
The list of closed source parts is presented as answers to this post so one can vote. Please feel free to amend this post or the list. Create new answers as wiki as well so one can modify or add contributions.
To be also constructive, here is a list of open source contributions from community thanks to OSS parts:
- several hardware adaptations (put a list here).
- bug fixes in sailfish-browser.
- annotation support, text selection and various UI improvements in PDF viewer.
- bug fixes in fingerterm.
- CalDAV and CardDAV regular meetings, to set up tests, report / fix bugs…
- update to latest QtWebkit.
- ongoing work on GCC upgrade.
- …
This is a great topic. Both sides of it, actually: Of course which closed parts block improvements from the community... but even more the examples of how community input for open parts improved the system in the past. The latter is really essential: Those who are not convinced that opening certain parts is worth the effort might argue that even though there is activity in the community, it might not be reliable, the quality might not be good enough, it might introduce more bugs than new features etc. etc.
Example of how it can work if all conditions are met is very important IMHO.
ossi1967 ( 2017-09-20 16:05:25 +0300 )editI would also mention the tons of the patches on openrepos which are great examples that the community would like to contribute for the closed parts, but there is no official way to properly contribute them back. For e.g.: https://openrepos.net/content/rikudousennin/go-specific-date-calendar (Adding a go to date option to the calendar.)
martonmiklos ( 2017-09-21 11:57:08 +0300 )edit@martonmiklos you're absolutely right! Please feel free to edit the corresponding answers with what contributions it is blocking.
Damien Caliste ( 2017-09-21 13:08:55 +0300 )editHow about the contacs app? I can't see it in the list, but it would certainly benefit from open source work!
00prometheus ( 2017-09-21 16:34:25 +0300 )edit@00prometheus, please add it, this is a wiki everybody is welcome to contribute. I forgot it indeed.
Damien Caliste ( 2017-09-21 19:07:32 +0300 )edit