[OpenAFS] Re: [OpenAFS-devel] An open letter from the OpenAFS Council of Elders

[Esther Filderman]

On Sat, May 10, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Rodney M. Dyer <rmdyer@uncc.edu> wrote:

>  Your "benefit back" is the continual improvement and debugging of OpenAFS.
> You should have already contracted with either "Secure Endpoints"
> http://www.secure-endpoints.com, or "Sine Nomine"
> http://www.sinenomine.net/openafs/ for a "maintenance contract".  We have
> one, and it has served us well.  Since OpenAFS is essentially "free", the
> "maintenance contract" is more of a consulting contract really, but it
> serves the same function.  Talk to Jeffrey Altman about these arrangments at
> the workshop, or call him directly.  I'm sure he would be happy to work with
> you.
>
>  If you care about whether OpenAFS sees a future or not, then you NEED to do
> this.

With no disrespect intended toward Sine Nomine or Secure Endpoints --
both do tons of fine work and contribute back to the OpenAFS
community, I recommend contracts with them highly for those who need
help with support, training and development -- there's something to be
said for being able to contribute directly to OpenAFS.

There have been mechanisms in the past to directly fund OpenAFS; the
AFS & Kerberos Best Practices Workshop raises money for OpenAFS, and
there is a fund through Usenix, to take advantage of it being a 501c3.

As it's own 501c3 corporation OpenAFS would be able to accept
donations without a third party, something that would probably make it
easier -- and more comfortable -- for many sites to do.  Additionally,
there are resources that neither company can always directly provide,
especially things like hardware.

Moose

Disclaimer: I have worked for Sine Nomine Associates.  Nothing stated
here reflects the opinion of them or any other current or past
employer.   Or probably myself...