[FFmpeg-devel] Mailing List Delay

ffmpegandmahanstreamer at lolcow.email ffmpegandmahanstreamer at lolcow.email
Wed Jul 14 22:56:10 EEST 2021


On 2021-07-14 14:55, Nicolas George wrote:
> ffmpegandmahanstreamer at lolcow.email (12021-07-14):
>> I'm not against fixing the mailing list. No, not at all. It need to be
>> fixed. But Google is big company and trying to figure out how to make 
>> their
>> mail deliver successfully might be a problem.
>> 
>> I think this was the reasoning behind alot of the major open source 
>> projects
>> switching to Nongnu.org and Google Groups along with Github 
>> discussions.
>> IIRC even the Alliance of Open Media has their patch mailing list on
>> Groups.io and Google Groups now. But I'm not saying FFMPEG should. 
>> Just
>> saying that other projects have been facing similar issues and fixed 
>> it by
>> moving to a large mailing list hub. And libvpx uses Google mail 
>> servers for
>> their patches as well.
> 
> This discussion would be incomplete without reminding that Google and
> these large actors have, under the excuse of fighting spam, 
> unilaterally
> changed the protocols they implement in ways that makes it harder for
> small actors to stay in the game.
> 
> Therefore, the terms of the alternative are between choosing a solution
> that is seamless even for the clueless but at the same time that 
> enables
> the monopolists and strengthen their position, or resisting the
> monopolists and bearing a few technical hurdles for people who use 
> their
> services.
> 
While this is true, the goal of the FFmpeg project is to further 
multimedia.
Not to fight against "the man", big corporations, or solve other 
problems.
We've seen firsthand how "external influences" can creep up on a 
project,
removing it from its goals. Just look at what happened with Gnome and 
Linux Foundation.

The solution picked should be easy for even the "clueless" so they too 
can contribute and
further the goals of the project.

> Since FFmpeg is a major Libre Software project, and one that is quite
> technical at that, I think it should be obvious our side is the one of
> freedom and against the monopolists.
> 
And the AOM/Python/other projects I mentioned aren't major and technical 
projects? They have chosen the "other" side.
> Furthermore, FFmpeg has some importance for Google itself, which could
> give us weight in asking they fix their shit if they want their users 
> to
> be able to contribute without hassle. That would benefit all projects
> who want to self-host their mailing-lists.
> 
> Also, it is worth remembering that if lkml can self-host, so should we.
> 
Linux kernel is 100x bigger than ffmpeg in terms of contributors, 
resources, and "clout". They can afford to self host.

> And, in the wake of the GitHub Copilot scandal, I think it is pretty
> obvious we should definitely not choose solutions that are under
> singular private control.
> 
The mailing list right now is under private control right now as well. 
Its just that the private control isn't Google or a big company. Rather, 
it is Fabrice Bellard.
I do think something needs to be done about it, I just don't think this 
is the right place to do it.
> Regards,
> 
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