On Sat, 4 Sep 2004, Julian Stecklina wrote:
the cl-ncurses project seems abandoned. There is no activity on its mailing list since June. I have some patches to fix it and plan to use it for the next time, but got no response from the mailing list. Is there anything I can do?
Though one. Two months is not really a very long time for a free lisp project, but I see your dilemma. Have you tried contacting Marcelo Ramos (iirc xanthus on #lisp) directly -- or in case his email address has soured, using eg. CLiki as a notice-board?
To my mind the ideal solution would be "whatever he thinks best" -- be that merging your patches, asking you to join cl-ncurses, or whatever.
If he can't be reached, as an alternative solution you're always free to fork and host the project under another name at clnet (or even under the same name elsewhere!) ...then when he resurfaces things cn be merged if you two agree on things.
[FWIW, it should be noted that common-lisp.net project namespace and CLiki namespace are different things -- nothing outside social norms and the wrath of dan-b prevents your from grabbing the CLiki page. Not that I'm advocating it, just noting the fact.]
As things stand I don't think it's appropriate for clnet staff to unilaterally decree that a project has been abandoned, and is up for grabsm etc; we should formulate and publicise any such policy well beforehand -- and even then a year or two might be a more appropriate fallow period.
As said, I'd try direct contact first.
Cheers,
-- Nikodemus Schemer: "Buddha is small, clean, and serious." Lispnik: "Buddha is big, has hairy armpits, and laughs."