

Canonical's Launchpad now open source (AGPLv3) - keyist
http://blog.canonical.com/?p=192

======
pieter
I don't want to sound too negative, but it seems to me like they have failed
by releasing this so late. Creating open source software is not just about
releasing the source, it is also about building an active development
community.

By releasing a mature product, people won't be as likely to join, as most of
the stuff has already been shaped. It's really hard to change the way
launchpad works right now, which is part of the fun in an open source project.
If you join now, you're basically an alien around the canonical employees,
which doesn't sound very attractive to me.

Time will tell of course, but I think it's a mistake to only release this now.

------
extension
Imagine Github, then add an integrated package manager, an inter-project bug
tracker and extensive documentation and collaboration features. That's
Launchpad. What I've seen of it has been really impressive. This could be a
game changer for open source.

~~~
forsaken
If you can show me a way to get to the source code of a project in less than 4
clicks, you might have a point.

I agree that there is a lot of functionality there, but it is so incredibly
user hostile that I have never bothered to look through it.

~~~
rbanffy
From the home, click on "Zope.org". Then click, on the top tab bar, on "Code".
Then select one of the many branches, let's say, "lp:grok/trunk". Now click on
the "Source code" pill.

Four clicks and you are browsing source. Not bad.

~~~
benatkin
I'm going to disagree and say that what you just described _is_ bad.

~~~
rbanffy
The parent was originally challenging someone to get to the code in four
clicks.

It may be somewhat confusing, but some tools are complex and take some time to
get used to.

------
aditya
Has anyone used this as opposed to say a combination of
{trac,github,lighthouse,redmine,fogbugz} - and if yes, what has your
experience been like? Pros/Cons?

It seems like it doesn't support git but now that it is open source, maybe
that'll change soon.

~~~
extension
It stacks up pretty well as a project manager, but it really shines as an
_ecosystem_ manager. Bugs can be bounced around between projects and tracked
at external sites.

I think it's pretty tightly coupled with Bazaar, to the point where you can
clone a repository by typing "bzr branch lp:projectname", but it appears to
support mirroring of other repo types.

------
kragen
This is fantastic news! I wish I could say I saw how important Launchpad would
be when I saw the database schema in that hotel room in Seattle so many years
ago, but I was pretty dubious.

