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151 lines
7.6 KiB
151 lines
7.6 KiB
11 months ago
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<title>Julio Biason .Me 4.3</title>
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<div class="sidebar-about">
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<a href="https://blog.juliobiason.me"><h1>Julio Biason .Me 4.3</h1></a>
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<p class="lead">Old school dev living in a 2.0 dev world</p>
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<li class="sidebar-nav-item"><a href="/pt/tags">Tags (PT)</a></li>
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<div class="content container">
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<div class="post">
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<h1 class="post-title">Commented link: Expanding Fuchsia's open source model</h1>
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<span class="post-date">
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2020-12-13
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<a href="https://blog.juliobiason.me/tags/links/">#links</a>
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<a href="https://blog.juliobiason.me/tags/google/">#google</a>
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<a href="https://blog.juliobiason.me/tags/fuchsia/">#fuchsia</a>
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<a href="https://blog.juliobiason.me/tags/open-source/">#open source</a>
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</span>
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<p>Google recently announced they they are <a href="https://opensource.googleblog.com/2020/12/expanding-fuchsias-open-source-model.html">changing the open source
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model</a>
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of their new open source OS called Fuchsia. But there are so many red flags one
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has to wonder what the announcement actually is.</p>
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<span id="continue-reading"></span>
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<p>For example: "We have been developing Fuchsia in the open, in our git
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repository for the last four years." Thing is, nobody had access to the
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repository for <em>writing</em>, only Google. And, although it was "open" you couldn't
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suggest changes or anything, even if you were following the development since
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its inception. The model is as "open" as Android is, where only way to
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contribute to the mainline code is being at Google; you can clone the Android
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code as much as you can clone Fuchsia code, but good luck trying to make it run
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without voiding your device warranty.</p>
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<p>"Starting today, we are expanding Fuchsia's open source model to make it easier
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for the public to engage with the project." This point is important for the
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next points, but you have to ask yourself: What is actually changing in the
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model? Are they changing the license, to allow people to continuous contribute
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as an open source project? Are they opening the lines for accepting external
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pull requests? No, they are just creating a maillist and writing down how one
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can get permission to submit patches or become a committer. How open is a
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project that you need to have badge to be able to be part of the project?</p>
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<p>Let me try to explain this by using an analogy: Imagine a house with a
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huge, sound-proof window. Sure you can look inside the house, but
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there is no way you can tell people that the sofa looks better if
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facing the other wall, that a vase is about to fall down and break or
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even get in and help them move the sofa to the other side of the
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room. You wouldn't call that an "open" house, would you? Well, that's
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the current model for Google projects: Look, but we won't listen to
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you and we won't let you get in to move the sofa the way we actually
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want.</p>
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<p>"In addition, we are also publishing a technical roadmap for Fuchsia to provide
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better insights for project direction and priorities." Remember the first point
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about making easier to the public to contribute? Well, how can it be a
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contribution from the public if the direction is already set? What if the
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public decides that the direction should be another one? Either is a waste of
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time of the current developers or the "easier to contribute" is simply for free
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labor and not for building an open source project, in the end.</p>
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<p>"Fuchsia is an open source project that is inclusive by design, from the
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architecture of the platform itself, to the open source community that we’re
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building." This point was raised from another user on Mastodon (hello
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<a href="https://bitcoinhackers.org/@berkes">Berkes</a>): One does not "build" an open
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source community; you make an inclusive, open to everyone project, where people
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can contribute to code, documentation, ideas, improvements and even direction
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and the community will build itself -- Rust is a great example of that (and I'm
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bringing this for later).</p>
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<p>But even with all that, let's take a step back: Why would Google change the
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"model" of such OS? Couldn't they develop it themselves, in the close? Sure
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they could. The fact that they are "open sourcing" it probably means the
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project lost importance inside Google and nobody actually cares to continue
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development of it. The roadmap probably is just the original authors
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"wishlist" for the OS and nothing more.</p>
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<p>Also, there is the question of "Why Fuchsia?"; why would Google invest in
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producing another OS when Linux seems to fit most of their needs (after all, it
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fits their ChromeOS and Android systems)? While being developed with Rust, a
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language the provides memory protection and should, in theory, provide a better
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experience for users, it doesn't mean that other languages can't provide the
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same protections -- Rust just means the compiler will do a better job at
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pointing out problems than other languages. But when you have an operating
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system like Linux, which is reviewed by thousands of developers around the
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world, highly modular and with groups focused on different subsystems, the
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protection comes from the <em>community</em>. Google could, pretty much, rewrite some
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critical subsystems in Rust and get over it, but they decided to go with a
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completely different OS. And the rumors say that it was simply 'cause Linux is
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licensed under GPL, a license the allows anyone to contribute -- with later
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versions of the license even requesting companies to provide the encryption
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keys for devices that require it -- and that Google simply abhors.</p>
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<p>So, an OS created (probably) out of petty spite for rules that actually <em>build</em>
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open source communities now is trying to create an open source community. If
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this isn't poetic justice, I don't know what it is.</p>
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