Re: Ralf, are you there?

["Ralf S. Engelschall" <nospam@thanx>]

On Wed, Oct 28, 1998, David Harris wrote:

> > By the way, is this list dead? Or is it that too few people have
> > discovered this wonderful tool?
> 
> I also wonder why there is very little posting on the list. I seem to
> remember that a year ago there was much more traffic.
> 
> In addition to wondering where the list members and wml users have gone, I
> wonder where our WML author has gone. I remember in early September I
> postied some code modifications to the list which significantly increased
> the efficiency of pass one and improved the TOC tag, but they have not been
> applied to the "in development" source tree. I've sent a few e-mails to Ralf
> about this and another issue with ePerl and SFIO, but received no response.
> Oh, I also remember asking to the list and private when WML 2.0 was
> expected. Nothing heard from him on anything.
> 
> When I was a member of the list briefly a year ago, I remember a different
> Ralf. He was taking bug fixes and producing code patches and actively
> working with the community. I think everyone felt his guidance and
> development efforts.
> 
> So, Ralf, are you still there? Is WML 2.0 still a priority? If so, when will
> it be out. I know you are still active in software, because you were at
> ApacheCon 98. Please reply to this e-mail. You have a responsibility to tell
> the WML community that you are bowing out, if that is your intention.

No, the list is not dead. It's just no traffic there currently because I'm
120% busy with Apache and my latest Apache-related projects: mod_ssl
(http://www.engelschall.com/sw/wml/) and the Apache book I'm writing for
Addison Wesley USA. Such projects (as WML in it's origin) consumes really
_ALL_ of my time. The ePerl and WML postings are still in my folders, but I'm
these months such flooded with Apache traffic that I currently find really no
free time for the older projects. At the begin of October I hoped the
situation would chance, but then in October ApacheCon'98 happended (where I
gave a mod_ssl presentation) and now the Apache problems are again at the
maximum level. I'm really online 10 hours per day and 7 days per week for
hacking, but there is more to do than a single hacker can do.

So, sorry that there is currently no development of WML and no highlights on
sw-wml. But WML is at least stable (although lacks performance), so I was
focused on the other projects where bigger problems exists. Actually what my
situation forces is the need for co-developers and co-maintainers for ePerl
and WML. I've already thought about making an invitation to other hackers to
contribute to the ePerl and WML projects are even overtake them for some time.
Does anybody thing this makes sense?  Or is there even anybody who wants to be
the maintainer for the next months (at least until I've finished the Apache
book and the mod_ssl project is settled)? I could establish write access to
the sources, the websites, etc. That's no problem. What is needed is just
someone who has knowledge of Perl and HTML, is already a WML user and wants to
drive the WML development for the next months.

Any other opinions how we can make sure the WML development and maintainance
doesn't stand idle for more time?

Please understand my situation. It's not a lost of interest or other reasons:
I've these months just really _NO_ more free time because of the large amount
of projects I'm already involved.

So, please help me and stand up as the developer/maintainer. At least for the
next 4 months, but it's also possible to get the job for longer. At least
after this time I can focus on WML myself again and work together with you.

                                       Ralf S. Engelschall
                                       rse@engelschall.com
                                       www.engelschall.com
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