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Ask Slashdot: What's The Best Place To Suggest New Open Source Software?

Posted by EditorDavid on from the suggestions-from-the-sidelines dept.

dryriver writes: Somebody I know has been searching up and down the internet for an open source software that can apply GPU pixel shaders (HLSL/GLSL/Cg/SweetFX) to a video and save the result out to a video file. He came up with nothing, so I said "Why not petition the open source community to create such a tool?" His reply was "Where exactly does one go to ask for a new open source software?"

So that is my question: Where on the internet can one best go to request that a new open source software tool that does not exist yet be developed? Or do open source tools only come into existence when someone -- a coder -- starts to build a software, opens the source, and invites other coders to join the fray?
This is a good place to discuss the general logistics of new open source projects -- so leave your best answers in the comments. What's the best place to suggest new open source software?

12 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Build your own software, asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, people won't build shit for you. We will certainly assist people as they build, but the open source community doesn't take requests other than bug fixes on their own work.

    Tell your friend to get off his ass and build it himself.

    1. Re:Build your own software, asshole by WarJolt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Many open source projects are well funded. They are for profit. It is free to use, not free to develop. There's a well defined model for making money on open source.

      The projects that are developed by only hobbiest are the exception, not the rule.

      You can pay someone to develop software for you.

    2. Re:Build your own software, asshole by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, people won't build shit for you.

      Tell your friend to get off his ass and build it himself.

      Classic rude answer by a stuck-up asshole.

      Sorry, but asking "Where exactly does one go to ask for a new open source software?" doesn't warrant this kind of "cram-it-up-your-ass" response.

      There are probably a thousand ways to respond but you had to go and pick the worst, most graceless way to do so. Bravo, asshole!

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  2. Two options... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This person has two options:

    1: Program their own and release it as open source software.

    2: Pay someone to make the software and release it as open source software.

    1. Re:Two options... by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Third options:

      3: Find a project that already does something very close to what you want and who'll probably see the value of your suggestion.

      I have both suggested such things to other projects and have taken on similar feature requests on my own open source projects.
      If it's a good idea, it doesn't matter where it came from.

      On the other hand, if you're looking for a place to dump your ideas and then expect other people to go looking for them, then why do you expect somebody to take the effort for your idea while you couldn't even be bothered with it yourself?

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  3. Uhh... by ckatko · · Score: 5, Informative

    There have got to be tools out there already...

      - MPC-HC supports running custom shaders. (Supposedly KMPlayer does too, but I'm not familiar with it.)

    I'm not sure if it supports file output. But that's already 99% of the battle already done for you. It supports pixel shaders, loading files through codecs. So even if it doesn't, why not just fork the github, and patch on some super-ugly-yet-functional file output?

    But backing up further. What... exactly do you need the shaders for? Does it have to be a shader running on a GPU, or do you simply need filters? Is the task you're attempting really going to take advantage of a GPU?

    As for "doing it for you", you can suck my balls. If you're capable of writing shader code, you're capable of dumping frames to a file.

    1. Re:Uhh... by MatthiasF · · Score: 4, Informative

      Pretty sure VLC and other video players can do this as well. I know VLC can apply filters and save out videos, and have seen demonstrations of people applying OpenGL shaders to videos.

    2. Re:Uhh... by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, basically this. Find the software that's closest to what you want to do and get on their community software and ask if there's already a way to do it. Your idea probably isn't unique, but just in case it is, the community can give feedback as to whether it's a good idea or not, and then if it is good their docs or people in the community will tell you how to put in a feature request. At that point, follow most of the advice others are giving about building or buying.

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  4. ITS CALLED EFFORT by Joviex · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So since /. has finally become google search for the entitled, lazy futurist, where can I go to get smei-nerd news without "do my homework" bullshit entries?

  5. Use Blender? by greggman · · Score: 4, Informative

    Blender has video editing built in I've heard. It probably also supports shaders. note: I'm only guessing as I have barely used Blender

    video editing in blender

    1. Re:Use Blender? by mysticgoat · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes, Blender. It is cross platform and on an adequate platform (multicore CPU, certain GPUs) it could possibly do what is wanted. It can also be extended using Python plug-ins, so it could be further developed if necessary. Blender can also use render farm technology so it can probably scale to meet any reasonably large job, its limitation being only the number of computers you can afford to use.

      Since the person(s) inquiring about this had not mentioned Blender, I can only assume that they are either too lazy or too lacking in basic Google skills to do any work themselves. Learning to use enough of Blender's interface to manage its video editing tools is not something one can do in a weekend. Learning enough Python to create any necessary plug-ins is also non-trivial. The inquirers seem to want someone to make a one-button application to do what they want. I think they have a basic misunderstanding of what Free Open Source Software is all about.

  6. My 20 years of experience by raymorris · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've been working in open source for 20 years, so I'll share my thoughts. I don't have statistics, and it would be hard to define statistics that aren't misleading. For example, counting the number of projects would count a script I wrote in two hours equally with the Linux kernel, or the Apache web server. So counting the number of projects doesn't make much sense.

    A very common scenario is work done by a companies that use the software, but don't run the project. At my last job, I spent a lot of time developing Moodle, an open source ecampus software. The university I worked for was one of hundreds of schools and companies that use Moodle. I worked on features in Moodle that would be of use to the college I worked for. I suspect this model accounts for most of the hours spent working on open source, though possibly not most of the people or projects. Moodle was started as a master's thesis (or maybe phd).

    I expect that the largest number of *projects* may be hobbyists and school-related (including masters and phd projects). Many, many people have released many, many small projects. Often, these are just enough to do the job, not as highly polished as something that has a marketing team trying to sell it. Sometimes they are well polished, but often not - if it works, that's often enough. These also tend to be projects that hobbyists *use*. Companies tend to sponsor projects used by companies, hobbysts tend to work on projects they use for their hobbies.

    I would say that a minority of projects, but often big, important projects, are have a lot of development from a company selling a version of the software or support and related materials. Mysql and RedHat are good examples. These tend to include software used by companies. If thousands of companies are using some software, there is probably an opportunity to create a company providing support to them. Often, these projects started as hobbyist / school projects, and the company was founded after the software was successful.

    Another set is formerly proprietary software that has been open sourced and is supported by the company. That would include Netscape/Firefox.

    So I'd say the statistics depend on which statistics you look at. Most projects? Hobbyist. Most hours invested? Businesses that use the software. Most important? Often both developed by businesses that use it and a company that coordinates the project.

    * After Moodle started being used by different schools, each contributing code, a company was set up to coordinate development, with a QA department, etc. The schools and companies who use Moodle develop features, the Moodle company makes sure that doesn't turn into chaos.