pgf-pie package

[Henri Menke]

Dear Karl,

I was able to contact Yuan Xu, the original author of pgf-pie, who is
also the author of pgf-umlcd and pgf-umlsd.  We agree that
maintainership will be handed over to the pgf-tikz GitHub organization,
which Yuan will be made a part of.  This will solve the maintainability
problem in the long run because there are several people with write
access that can release new version (David Carlisle, Joseph Wright, and
myself).  Also the licensing situation will be cleared up and the same
LPPLv1.3c + GPLv2 double licensing as for PGF will be put in place.

Cheers, Henri

On 22/05/20, 17:00, Karl Berry wrote:
> Hi Henri,
> 
>     CTAN has this (sorry to be frank) stupid policy that packages can only
>     every be updated with explicit permission from the original author, 
> 
> As I understand it, the general policy is that for existing packages on
> CTAN, only the author or designated uploader(s) can update it. And it's
> not stupid, because previously some author(s) complained when "random"
> third parties updated their packages out from under them. (It happened.)
> 
> But, there is an exception. With the LPPL, it is explicit: if an
> original author is uncontactable for six months (plus other conditions,
> but you get the idea), someone else can take over maintainership of the
> package. CTAN will respect this sort of transfer. (It's happened.)
> 
> With all other free software licenses I know of, there is no explicit
> transfer mechanism, anyone can release anything at any time. I would
> argue (to CTAN :) that if the similar conditions as the LPPL are met,
> it's reasonable to consider package XYZ as abandoned and thus to allow
> someone else to take it over.
> 
> In the unlikely event that the original author (a) pops back up and (b)
> has a problem with what has happened, it can always be reverted. My
> experience that when work continues on an abandoned package, the
> original author is pleased if he finds out about it down the road.
> 
> AFAIK, another option is to fork pgf-pie into a new package (why do you
> say it is unforkable?), but that is a suboptimal outcome in my
> view. There are far too many packages that are 95% the same as some
> other package already.
>     
>     unfixed bugs keep piling up
> 
> If the maintainership can be resolved, do you want to take over pgf-pie?
> Denis, do you? 
> 
> Have you either of you attempted to contact him recently?  I think
> trying once more is indicated. ("If you don't reply, we will proceed
> with updating per the GPL.") --thanks, karl.