[nneonneo]

One of the cool things about open source is that other people can do that for you! I've released a few bits of (rarely-used) software to open-source and been pleasantly surprised when people contribute. It helps to have a visible todo list so that new contributors know what to aim for.

By the way, there will always be things to add! That feeling should not stop you from putting the source out there - you will still own it (you can license the code any way you like!) and you can choose what contributions make it in to your source.

From the encode.su thread and now the HA thread, you've clearly gotten people excited, and I think that by itself means that people will be eager to try these out. Lossless codecs have a fairly low barrier for entry: you can use them without worrying about data loss by verifying that the decoder returns the original data, then just toss the originals and keep the matching decoder. So, it should be easy to get people started using the technology.

Open-sourcing your projects could lead to some really interesting applications: for example, delivering lossless images on the internet is a very common need, and a WASM build of your decoder could serve as a very convenient way to serve HALIC images to web browsers directly. Some sites are already using formats like BPG in this way.

[dspillett]

> One of the cool things about open source is that other people can do that for you!

This is a very valid point, but we should all recognise that some people⁰ explicitly don't want that for various reasons, at least not until they've got the project to a certain point in their own plans. Even some who have released other projects already prefer to keep their new toy more to themselves and only want more open discourse once they are satisfied their core itch is sufficiently scratched. Open source is usually a great answer/solution, but it is not always the best one for some people/projects.

Even once open, “open source not open contribution”¹ seems to be becoming more popular as a stated position² for projects, sometimes for much the same reasons, sometimes for (future) licensing control, sometimes both.

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[0] I'm talking about individual people specifically here, not groups, especially not commercial entities: the reasons for staying closed initially/forever can be very different away from an individual's passion project.

[1] “you are free to do what you want, but I/we want to keep my/our primary fork fully ours”.

[2] it has been the defacto position for many projects since a long time before this phrase was coined.

[rglullis]

> I/we want to keep my/our primary fork fully ours

The "primary" fork is the one that the community decides it to be, not what the authors "wants". Does it really matter what is the "primary fork" for those working on something to "scratch their own itch"?

[dspillett]

Hence I said my/our primary fork, not the primary fork.

If I were in the position of releasing something⁰: the community, should one or more coalesce around a work, can do/say what it likes, but my primary fork is what I say it is¹. It might be theirs, it might be not. I might consider myself part of that community, or not.

It should be noted that possibility of “the community” or other individual/team/etc taking a “we are the captain now” position (rather than “this is great, look what we've done with it too” which I would consider much more healthy and friendly) is what puts some people off opening their toy projects, at all or just until they have them to a point they are happy with or happy letting go at.

> Does it really matter what is the "primary fork" for those working on something to "scratch their own itch"?

It may do further down the line, if something bigger than just the scratching comes from the idea, or if the creator is particularly concerned about acknowledgement of their position as the originator².

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[0] I'm not ATM. I have many ideas/plans, some of them I've mused for many years old, but I'm lacking in time/organisation/etc!

[1] That sounds a lot more combative than I intend, but trying to reword just makes it too long-winded/vague/weird/other

[2] I wouldn't be, but I imagine others would. Feelings on such matters vary widely, and rightly so.

[adastra22]

I don’t get it. What the community does has no bearing on your fork, so why do you care? You can open source it and just not accept patches. Community development will end up happening somewhere else, but who cares?

[dspillett]

> I don’t get it.

Don't worry. You don't have to.

If you want a more specific response than that, what part of the post do you not get?

[rglullis]

Whatever position you are trying to argue seems to be so antithetical to Free Software, I'd say those sharing this view are completely missing the point of openness and would be better off by keeping all their work closed instead.

> other individual/team/etc taking a “we are the captain now” position rather than “this is great, look what we've done with it too”

The scenario is that someone opens up a project but says "I am not going to take any external contribution". Then someone else finds it interesting, forks it, that fork starts receiving attention and the original developer thinks to be entitled to control the direction of the fork? Is this really about "scratching your own itch" or is this some thinly-veiled control issue?

I'm sorry, after you open it up you can't have it both ways. Either it is open and other people are free to do whatever they want with it, or you say "it's mine!" and people will have to respect whatever conditions you impose to access/use/modify it.

> if the creator is particularly concerned about acknowledgement of their position as the originator.

That is what copyright is for and the patent system are for those who worry about being rewarded by their initial idea and creation.

If one is keeping their work to themselves out of fear of losing "recognition", they should look into the guarantees and rights given by their legal systems, because "feelings on this matter" are not going to save them from anything.

[dspillett]

> Is this really about "scratching your own itch" or is this some thinly-veiled control issue?

I wasn't attempting to veil it at all. It is a control issue for some.

Sometimes someone is happy to share their project, but wants to keep some hold on the core direction.

> > other individual/team/etc taking a “we are the captain now” position rather than “this is great, look what we've done with it too”

The scenario is that someone opens up a project but says "I am not going to take any external contribution". Then someone else finds it interesting, forks it, that fork starts receiving attention and the original developer thinks to be entitled to control the direction of the fork?

You are missing a step. I said that if someone has this concern then they might not open the project at all, until they feel ready to let go a bit. At that point “open source but not open contribution” and control over forks are not issues at all because the source isn't open and forking isn't possible.

> That is what copyright is for and the patent system are for

I don't know about you, but playing in those minefields is not at all attractive to me, and I expect many feel the same. If I had those concerns, and legal redress is the solution, I now have two problems and the new one is a particularly complex beast, it would be much easier to just not open up.

[rglullis]

> I wasn't attempting to veil it at all. It is a control issue.

Then do not hide it behind the "people just want to scratch their own itch". It is a bad rationalization for a much deeper issue and the way to overcome this is by bringing awareness to it, not by finding excuses.

> wants to keep some hold on the core direction.

You are really losing me here. The point from the beginning is that the idea of "direction" is relative to a certain frame of reference. There is no "core" direction when things are open. The very idea of "fork" should be a hint that it is okay to have people taking a project in different directions.

> it would be much easier to just not open up.

Agreed. But like I said: you can not have both ways. If you want to "keep control" and prevent others from taking the things in a different direction, then keep it close but be honest to yourself and others and don't say things like "it's not ready to be open yet" or "I want to share it with others but I worry about losing recognition".