Re: [DotGNU]Call for a truce over mono vs pnet

[Rhys Weatherley]

Paolo Molaro wrote:

> I'd really like to hear your suggestions:-)
> I don't see how people can start cooperating if they both have to cut
> one arm before starting...

It makes the co-operation mutually reinforcing, because
each party needs the other to survive.  But from what
you said, Mono is not willing to give up any core survival
pieces.  This creates an imbalance in the relationship.
Barry has made some suggestions, so I won't raise any
others at this time.

> The position here is that you can copy our code, but we can't copy
> yours, so it's not our call to make. If we can't reuse pnet's code
> we'll have to write our own.

You are in this position only because you didn't base
Mono on pnet's design in the first place.  Deliberately
changing all of the API's to be incompatible and then
saying "but yours isn't compatible so we can't use it"
isn't very ingenious.

> There may be more room for cooperation in the C# libraries, but here
> again we can't use your code unless you allow us to, while you can reuse
> our code. So, it's really up to DotGNU to decide what degree of
> cooperation they want with mono. Or am I missing something?

In the case of the DateTime class, I was not asked by
a designated Mono authority (e.g. yourself or Miguel) if
I was willing to contribute the code.  I was asked by
some minor contributor about the difference in licensing
between corlib and pnetlib, and how GPL interacts with
X11, which I answered truthfully.  I had thought that the
question was theoretical.

I only found out later that the question was in the context of
"maybe we should replace Mono's DateTime with pnetlib's
better implementation".  By then the Mono group had already
jumped to the conclusion that I wasn't willing to re-license
the code.  Which was incorrect, but by then it was too late.

You could have asked me.  You know my e-mail address.
I don't read mono-list any more, so someone in authority
needs to contact me directly on these issues.

In the past, I have initiated all contact with Miguel, and
each contact went badly.  It's his turn to initiate contact
with me.  Perhaps it will work better in the other direction.

Cheers,

Rhys.