[Opentts-dev] Speech-dispatcher, OpenTTS, and the outcome of my discussion with Brailcom staff.

[Jan Buchal]

Hi Luke and all,

thanks for constructive meeting and nice summary. I would like confirm
your conclusions. My colleagues will make some additional notes. We
currently really are looking for another resources for bigger project
which will include a support for TTS API etc. However the process is
administratively very complicated and the result of our proposal can be
awaited at the beginning of next year. For the development of current Speech
Dispatcher we have sufficient funds.

We will be very happy to cooperate with community on better
accessibility.

Best regards

Jan Buchal



>>>>> "LY" == Luke Yelavich <themuso at ubuntu.com> writes:

    LY> Hi all, As some of you are aware, I was in Prague this past
    LY> week, attending an Ubuntu/Canonical distro sprint event. During
    LY> the week, I was fortunate to meet up with Brailcom staff to talk
    LY> about speech-dispatcher, and the community, including
    LY> contribution to speech-dispatcher, the fork, and the way
    LY> forward. This may turn out to be a lengthy email, as it has
    LY> taken me some time to write it, ensuring that I get my thoughts
    LY> straight. I am sending this mail to both the speechd and
    LY> opentts-dev lists, to cover both communities. I don't see the
    LY> need to email any lists outside these two, as those who are most
    LY> interested in these projects are likely subscribed to one of
    LY> these lists. If my points about the discussion are not clear,
    LY> I'd appreciate it if either Hynek, Boris, or Jan could reply to
    LY> clarrify anything that I may have mis-interpreted from our
    LY> discussions. Jan, you did very well in attempting to convey your
    LY> thoughts about various points of discussion, but I may have
    LY> mis-understood you, so clarrification would be most welcome, if
    LY> necessary.


    LY> Discussion about the contribution page on the Freebsoft website

    LY> I asked for clarrification about firstly the coding style
    LY> requirements, and the contribution agreement form that is not
    LY> yet available. From what I remember from the discussion, Jan
    LY> mentioned that they try to follow the GNU coding style, but
    LY> generally, as long as the code is readable, and works, coding
    LY> style is not so much of an issue. Brailcom, feel free to
    LY> clarrify. The contribution agreement form hasn't been put up
    LY> yet, because there has not yet been anybody who has approached
    LY> Brailcom to discuss things. If enough people wish to become
    LY> regular contributors, Brailcom will update the site with
    LY> appropriate forms to be filled etc.


    LY> Responding to patches, and bug tracker.wiki

    LY> Brailcom will certainly attempt to encorporate all patches
    LY> submitted from the community. As to whether or not they will
    LY> respond, I'll have to defer to Jan/Hynek again, because I can't
    LY> quite remember what their answer was, and I don't want to say
    LY> something totally incorrect, so clarrification from
    LY> Hynek/Jan/Boris would once again be appreciated. I did ask them
    LY> about getting git commits to be posted to a mailing list, and I
    LY> think they said they would look into it. As for bug tracking et
    LY> al, I didn't ask them about that, as I forgot, but I am sure
    LY> they could ensure that the bug tracker is easier to find, and is
    LY> usable and useful for filing and tracking bugs. As far as I
    LY> understand it, their entire site is wiki-like, so having a wiki
    LY> area probably wouldn't be to much of a problem either.


    LY> I think that covers the important bits. Feel free to fire away
    LY> with specific questions, and I'll try to answer them, and I'd
    LY> ask Brailcom to help clarify points and questions people raise
    LY> as well. I will be resigning from the fork, as I am satisfied
    LY> that speech-dispatcher development can continue with enough
    LY> community involvement, and also knowing that Brailcom have other
    LY> plans on the horizon, pending funding approval helps further the
    LY> TTSAPI and text to speech API standards cause on *NIX.

    LY> If anybody wishes to continue with the fork, I will be happy to
    LY> help with basic administratino tasks till the domain is up for
    LY> expiry, then I'll be happy to transfer it to whom ever wants it.
    LY> My focus now will be taking some of the better work we have done
    LY> in opentts, and porting those patches to speech-dispatcher. Its
    LY> unfrotunate that we have duplicated so much work, but once we
    LY> have the better code fixes and ideas moved over, then
    LY> development from the community should be able to continue a
    LY> pace.

    LY> THis email has been written over several days, and I'm at the
    LY> point where I couldn't really be bothered writing any more. I am
    LY> sure we can resolve the last little bits via email.

    LY> Luke _______________________________________________ Opentts-dev
    LY> mailing list Opentts-dev at lists.opentts.org
    LY> http://lists.opentts.org/listinfo.cgi/opentts-dev-opentts.org