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Linux Csound and Other Agendas

Date1998-11-06 14:15
FromDave Phillips
SubjectLinux Csound and Other Agendas
Greetings:

  I've just spent the last hour going over messages dating back to RCB's
first announcement of his planned book. I note that while a Csound
Developers Group was indeed formed, its email traffic eventually
dwindled and disappeared.

  The real gist is that NOWHERE and at NO TIME was The Master Plan
spelled out in specifics (what EXACTLY is meant by "in step" or "in
sync" with versions for Windows, SGI and the Mac ?), and as a result I
continued to develop Csound for Linux in the manner which I found most
amenable. With help from Nicola Bernardini and many others I feel that
we have made a version of Csound which most fully exploits capabilities
inherent to Linux while remaining fully compatible with existing orc/sco
files.

  Nevertheless, I feel that I owe John Fitch a public apology. Since I
was not FULLY informed as to the details of The Master Plan, I simply
kept placing my work on the Bath server and elsewheres, assuming (very
wrongly, which is why I am apologizing to him) that John could/would
look at my distributions if he wondered what I was doing. The Linux
Csound community didn't seem to mind, I received no horror stories of
incompatibilities, unless they had to do with the namespace pollution
introduced by the canonical sources.

  And so: I will make every attempt to provide a base-line version of
Linux Csound, one which in no way differs from the canonical sources, if
that is what is desired. It will be the last time I do so, for I am far
more interested in advancing the capabilities of Csound for Linux. I
feel that is my original obligation, and it is obviously time for me to
step aside and let someone else provide the plain-vanilla version.

  John, I'm sorry for causing you distress over all of this, it was
certainly not intended, and it is emphatically not a personal issue. I
will do anything I can to ensure that the version going out with RCB's
book will be to your liking. I am engaged in a complete re-write of my
chapter and I will spell out CLEARLY that there are multiple versions
available, just as they are available for other platforms (viz the
numerous versions for Windows). If you like, I will also specify that
versions I supply are developmental and that the Bath server can supply
the stable plain-vanilla package.

  I make no apology for the wonderful efforts of the Linux Csound
developers group. To do so would insult the work of a great group of
programmers who have, as has jpff, dedicated so much of their time and
energies towards providing the best possible version of Csound currently
available for their chosen OS.

  I am also not very interested in discussing this further, with anyone.
Once accord is reached on The Master Plan for the Csound Book it seems
to me that there will be no need for my involvement. If John and Richard
are happy with whatever version is eventually provided then I can more
quickly return to my preferred activities (as can we all). Polemics is
not one of those.

Thank you,

== Dave Phillips

       http://www.bright.net/~dlphilp/index.html

Date1998-11-06 15:21
FromRichard Boulanger
Subject[CUD] Re: Linux Csound and Other Agendas
David,

I very much appreciate all of your efforts and this letter as well.

There has been no secret agenda or master plan... just a shared hope
between John ffitch and myself that we could converge all the public stuff
by the time that the book was released so that - for that one instant in
time - thousands of orchestras and scores would work exactly the same way
on the three main platforms - Mac, PC and Linux.

Over the summer, as the MIDI stuff began to come appart - little working on
the Mac, less working on ffitch's pc version, problems with the Linux
version, and a fantastic, but totally (Mac and PC) incompatabile version
from Gabriel - it began to look to me like there would never be a
convergence.  My hope at that point was that most of the book would still
run.  (In fact, at the last minute I pulled ALL the MIDI chapters from the
book - 5 chapters including the one by Mike Berry, Bill Alves, Scotty
Vercoe, Gabriel Maldonado and my own!  Because I couldn't get the things
running on both the Mac and the PC.)

My plan is to now include them on the CD-ROM in hopes that we will have
some stability and common functionality by then.

The thing that I have sensed all along - and that worries me terribly, is
that everyone is competing out there to proove who has the BEST Csound
rather than collaborating to make available a uniform BETTER Csound.  I
realize that this level of collaboration is incredibly difficult... if not
impossible really.  But that is my dream.  I have dedicated the best part
of the past 20 years to that end and have been grateful to all the
developers who have contributed to a better public software synthsisizer
which is free for all.

To you David... and Gabriel, Michael, Matt, Richard, John, Dave, Mike,
Ricardo, Nicola, Allesandro, Barry, Robin, Jean, Alexdre, Paris and all
those who have contributed to the development of Csound I am eternally
grateful.  I hope and pray that we can all continue WORKING TOGETHER to
keep Csound alive, current, ever more powerful and full featured... and
most of all... compatible.

Sincerely,

Richard

>Greetings:
>
>  I've just spent the last hour going over messages dating back to RCB's
>first announcement of his planned book. I note that while a Csound
>Developers Group was indeed formed, its email traffic eventually
>dwindled and disappeared.
>
>  The real gist is that NOWHERE and at NO TIME was The Master Plan
>spelled out in specifics (what EXACTLY is meant by "in step" or "in
>sync" with versions for Windows, SGI and the Mac ?), and as a result I
>continued to develop Csound for Linux in the manner which I found most
>amenable. With help from Nicola Bernardini and many others I feel that
>we have made a version of Csound which most fully exploits capabilities
>inherent to Linux while remaining fully compatible with existing orc/sco
>files.
>
>  Nevertheless, I feel that I owe John Fitch a public apology. Since I
>was not FULLY informed as to the details of The Master Plan, I simply
>kept placing my work on the Bath server and elsewheres, assuming (very
>wrongly, which is why I am apologizing to him) that John could/would
>look at my distributions if he wondered what I was doing. The Linux
>Csound community didn't seem to mind, I received no horror stories of
>incompatibilities, unless they had to do with the namespace pollution
>introduced by the canonical sources.
>
>  And so: I will make every attempt to provide a base-line version of
>Linux Csound, one which in no way differs from the canonical sources, if
>that is what is desired. It will be the last time I do so, for I am far
>more interested in advancing the capabilities of Csound for Linux. I
>feel that is my original obligation, and it is obviously time for me to
>step aside and let someone else provide the plain-vanilla version.
>
>  John, I'm sorry for causing you distress over all of this, it was
>certainly not intended, and it is emphatically not a personal issue. I
>will do anything I can to ensure that the version going out with RCB's
>book will be to your liking. I am engaged in a complete re-write of my
>chapter and I will spell out CLEARLY that there are multiple versions
>available, just as they are available for other platforms (viz the
>numerous versions for Windows). If you like, I will also specify that
>versions I supply are developmental and that the Bath server can supply
>the stable plain-vanilla package.
>
>  I make no apology for the wonderful efforts of the Linux Csound
>developers group. To do so would insult the work of a great group of
>programmers who have, as has jpff, dedicated so much of their time and
>energies towards providing the best possible version of Csound currently
>available for their chosen OS.
>
>  I am also not very interested in discussing this further, with anyone.
>Once accord is reached on The Master Plan for the Csound Book it seems
>to me that there will be no need for my involvement. If John and Richard
>are happy with whatever version is eventually provided then I can more
>quickly return to my preferred activities (as can we all). Polemics is
>not one of those.
>
>Thank you,
>
>== Dave Phillips
>
>       http://www.bright.net/~dlphilp/index.html
>   http://www.bright.net/~dlphilp/linux_soundapps.html


==================
Dr. Richard Boulanger
Professor - Music Synthesis Department
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston Street  - Boston, MA  02215-3693
Office Phone: (617) 747-2485   Office Fax: (617) 536-2257
==========================================
Email: radiobaton@earthlink.net
URL: http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/underworld/836/
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