MaybeUpload: the development of an Open Source package
Why we needed MaybeUpload
- We needed RFC 1867 compliant file upload for a number of projects
for customers
- There was an existing implementation available from Jason Hunter,
but the license was weird and restrictive and I felt we couldn't
use it.
Why we open sourced MaybeUpload
- We'd already made a decision to open source all our
infrastructure code, including our application framework, Jacquard
- Partly in the hope of getting bug fixes contributed
- Partly in the hope of benefitting from publicity
- Partly with the intention of 'giving something
back'
- MaybeUpload logically supported Jacquard
Choice of License
- We've used BSD License for both Jacquard and MaybeUpload
- This allows other people to use our code in commercial software
- This is a conscious decision; we felt that if we'd used the GPL it
would be useful to fewer people
- It doesn't hurt us if other people use it commercially
Key Dates
- 27th December 2000
- Coding started
- 8th January 2001
- Sort of working; uploading some files more or less accurately
- 9th January 2001
- Announced on Freshmeat
- 16th February 2001
- First community-provided patch
- 2nd March 2001
- Apache Cocoon 2 project asks to use MaybeUpload
- 19th July 2001
- First really 'stable' version - 1.0.5 - works for most
people, may still have a bug with respect to MacOS
clients
More statistics
- 15 patches contributed by 6 people, only one of whom I've
ever met
- 12 subscribers to the mailing list
- 427 downloads (not counting downloads from Cocoon
site)
- Contributors from Finland, France, Germany, Korea
Open Source: Cost/benefit analysis
Cost: We've had to set up and monitor a mailing list
Benefit: We've had many patches, including bug fixes and feature
enhancements
Benefit: We've got a finished, tested unit far faster than we
could by ourselves
Benefit: It's been tested in situations where we could not have
economically tested it (e.g. Korean language, MacOS)
Cost?: We can't effectively sell the package
people who needed an open source implementation would not
have bought it anyway
people who were happy with a closed source implementation would
have used Jason Hunter's
Why MaybeUpload has been
Simon Brooke
Last modified: Thu Aug 23 12:32:39 BST 2001