Future of GtkDatabox

["Dr. Roland Bock" <box2OO6 eudoxos de>]

Dear all!

This message is not easy, but before I start with a lengthy 
introduction, here is what is happening:

I am retiring the GtkDatabox project.

What does this mean for the GtkDatabox project?
===============================================
Well, that depends on you! GtkDatabox is an OpenSource project. If you 
are interested in seeing future releases, probably with cool new 
features, you should do something about it and start coding :-)

The project is registered at SourceForge which offers everything you 
need to team up in development and share with others. I would be handing 
over the administrator's role to you (same with freshmeat.net and 
gnomefiles.org, of course). Just tell me when you are ready.

Why should you enter this project?
==================================
First of all, it is a very rewarding work. I have developed and 
maintained GtkDatabox for more than ten years by now and I would not 
want to have missed that experience. It is nice to see that others are 
using it. Today, the library is available for all major Linux 
distributions, I think, as well as for FreeBSD. There are more wrappers 
for other languages than C than I can keep track of. The feedback from 
users is always cool, because they are giving feedback for the stuff you 
develop. Users who are thankful for the widget, users who have new 
ideas. Even those who criticize the things you like best are good 
because they help you to question and potentially improve you design :-)

The feedback in total helps in becoming a better developer. You will 
learn more about generality, system dependencies, but also coding style 
and software design.

And last, but not least: If you are using GtkDatabox, actively 
developing it is certainly the best way to make sure that you will be 
able to use it with the next release of gcc or gtk+, etc.

Who should do this?
===================
Personally, I would hope for three or four persons to share the project. 
I have talked to a few people in advance and Brian Phelps is interested 
in joining, but I am convinced that a few more hands would be great!

So do not hesitate. Start organizing the take-over. There is nothing to 
lose but much to gain!


Why do I leave the project?
===========================
When I started the project in September 1998, I was developing and using 
GtkDatabox very intensively during my doctorate studies, analyzing 
spectra of magnesium ion lines. This phase lasted until early Summer 1999.

In Autumn 1999 I joined a company of search engine specialists (no, not 
Google) and worked as a development manager. In my spare time, until 
now, I enjoyed to keep in touch with actual development by continuing 
the GtkDatabox project although I stopped using it myself almost nine 
years ago because all my work is about server software.

In April I teamed up with a few colleagues from the old company to found 
a new one. I am developing C++ server software at work now. It is very 
demanding work in a cool team, but it also means that I am inwardly 
moving away from GtkDatabox.

During the past few years, I added a lot of new things to the library. 
My personal highlights were introducing the modularized graph stuff, 
adding the rulers which can handle logarithmic scales and last but not 
least finally providing a basic documentation. Documentation was a bit 
of a struggle, but the rest was pretty interesting and often real fun!

Today, with the enhancements and the documentation in place, I can 
truthfully say: the GtkDatabox widget has reached the kind of maturity I 
wanted. The project is kind of completed for me and I consider my work 
to be done.

So that's why I am retiring from the project.


But you, who are using the library: Take a heart and join in! Especially 
if you have never participated in OpenSource development before. It is a 
very good experience! I sure you have ideas for new features, better 
interfaces, whatever. Realize them and share them with others. It's 
worth the effort!


Thanks and regards,

Roland