Making Your Code OSS-Appealing?

goldcd writes "A while back I wrote some pretty reasonable forum code, a PHPBB alternative. A few years down the line it's pretty stable, I've stopped tinkering with it, and it's standing up by itself. I have neither the time, inclination, nor inspiration to do anything more with it, but would very much like to give the code to the world to use and expand upon. Now I could just upload it as it is onto SourceForge, but currently it's very specific in its usage and I'd be ashamed of what 'proper' coders would think of my amateur offering — I'm afraid it would be laughed at and ignored. On the other hand, I don't want to waste hours of my own time perfecting it for people just to 'rip off' as is, and never contribute anything. My question is, what do you have to do to make your code 'OSS appealing?'"

Comments

Well

[SpacePunk]

Considering the majority of OSS code, if I were to release any of my code, I'd have to make it more amateurish.

Don't worry about it. There are those that will like it, those that won't, but they'll all cream their star wars underoos because it's free (as in beer).

as gandhi said

[User 956]

I'm afraid it would be laughed at and ignored.

I think you have that backwards. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

Release it anonymously

[Colin Smith]

Problem solved.

as long as it works....

[3seas]

...being ugly might just help protect it from stupid software patents.....

Proven solution to making your code look pro ...

[tomhudson]

I'd be ashamed of what 'proper' coders would think of my amateur offering -- I'm afraid it would be laughed at and ignored

Just cut-n-paste the following lines multiple times in each source file ...

// hack for f*cking Internet Explorer css screw-up

// g** d*** MicroSh*t - got to fix this next section sometime

// WTF? Bug only in IE, on alternate Tuesdays, in months with an "R" in them!!!

// Okay - this works fine in Opera, Moz, Safari - fuck IE. Let a MicroSerf fix it, or fix their ^$%! browser!!!

// WARNING: *** UNCOMMENT THE NEXT 3 LINES FOR INTERNET EXPLODER COMPATIBILITY MODE! ***
// if(browser == IE) {
// alert("get a real browser, you moron!");
// }

After all, everyone knows one of the reasons it took so long to make the Netscape Navigator source available was "cleaning up" the source code to remove all the "F*cking Microsoft POS crap" comments,

Pink Ponies, Brown Gnus

[fahrbot-bot]

What do you have to do to make your code 'OSS appealing?

I try to write in different colors and decorate the comments with drawings of flowers, pink ponies and those Gnus from Africa (I draw those in brown). I put little hearts over the "i"s and include smiley faces in the output.

Re:Just let them come

[DMUTPeregrine]

I find it somewhat sad that VI/EMACS would be associated with hardcore developers only. I don't use VI much, but EMACS is one of the most powerful editors for any kind of text around. And it is FREE!

Re:Just let them come

[Anonymous Coward]

> and should just be ignored.

Not to forget also that any code they do offer is likely to be

a.) overly clever and exotic,
b.) flakey, buggy and without error checking of any kind

ie. unsuitable for production use, or any use outside a "hair-styling tips" article on a blog

Re:Just let them come

[vtcodger]

Sure EMACS is powerful. But that's almost irrelevant to the needs of program documentation. Mostly documentation authors don't need a lot of power. They need a modicum of communication ability, a basic text editor, and a willingness to do a not especially fun job.

(I'll pass on vi. If you can't say something nice ...)

Re:Just let them come

[VanessaE]

I remember a guy mailing me with a patch to replace a really dumb subroutine (this was a Perl script) with a one liner. He was very polite and helpful about it, considering how awful it must have looked to him.

Um... it's PERL. Isn't aweful-looking code kind of unavoidable?

Mods: it's funny. laugh.

Re:Just let them come

[wilymage]

I'd use EMACS if I had some foot pedals for my computer.

Escape + Meta + Alt + Control + Shift

Next stop, RSI.