Hi,
I'd like to take over maintainership of the abandoned module PDF::API2.
It's a module that's critical for my business, and I've spent a good
bit of time digging into it in the past couple of years.
My attempts to contact the author have been unsuccessful:
- On November 30th, 2008, the project was abandoned (see
pdfapi2.sourceforge.net). See also
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/perl-text-pdf-modules/message/3615
- On July 23rd of this year, I sent an E-Mail to the author at
alfredreibensc...@gmx.net, asking if I could take it over.
- On the same day, I also wrote the guy who created PDF::API3.
- On August 2nd, the PDF::API3 author got back to me saying that he was
more interested in being a user than a maintainer, that life melted down
shortly after he created the fork, and that he's "long on vision and how
to, but way short on time". He did give me a number of helpful ideas
for moving forward, though.
- On August 7th, I re-sent my original E-Mail to areib...@cpan.org.
- On September 1st, I tried to contact him via his SourceForge account.
Here's a copy of the July 23rd and August 7th E-Mails:
<<< BEGIN MESSAGE >>>
Hi,
[I sent an E-Mail to your @gmx.net address a couple of weeks ago, but
never heard back, so I'm trying again with your CPAN address.]
I'm a happy user of PDF::API2, and see that it's currently unmaintained.
Has anyone expressed an interest in taking it on? I've started working
on it, and would like to take over maintenance of the module if nobody
else is doing so.
I run a small print shop that uses Perl extensively, and would like to
work on PDF::API2 here and there to add to the documentation and
eventually include support for some of the newer PDF standards.
As background, I've been working in Perl for roughly 12 years, and would
like to do a better job of contributing back to the community. Since I
work with PDFs a lot through my day job, and since the module is
currently unmaintained and there aren't any other modules doing anything
similar, this seems like it might be a good place to step in.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Steve Simms
<<< END MESSAGE >>>
And here's a copy of the briefer message I sent via SourceForge:
<<< BEGIN MESSAGE >>>
Hi,
I've sent a couple of E-Mails to you via other addresses,
and haven't heard back, so I'm hoping this contact form will
reach you. If it does, could you send me a note at
st...@deefs.net, please?
Briefly, since SourceForge only provides an itty bitty text
box, I'm wondering if I could take over maintenance of the
PDF::API2 module from you. My goal would be to maintain as
much backwards compatibility as I can manage, work on
expanding and reorganizing the documentation, add tests, and
add support for the newer PDF specs.
Let me know if you get this, and I'll write in more detail.
Thanks!
Steve Simms
<<< END MESSAGE >>>
That's as far as I've gotten. None of the messages to the author
bounced, and I haven't gotten any replies.
Are there any other steps you'd like me to take, or is it fairly clear
at this point that the module is well and truly abandoned? I'd rather
take over maintainership of this module than fork it, but I can do the
latter if you think that's a better route to take.
For reference, my CPAN ID is SSIMMS, and Alfred Reibenschuh's ID is
AREIBENS.
Thanks,
Steve Simms
