[linux-audio-dev] how about a LADSPA BOF session at LAConf#2 ?

[Joern Nettingsmeier]

hi richard, hi everyone!


i'm just wading through 2k5 linux audio mails, as i'm a little 
behind on current affairs due to a lengthy and less-than-smooth 
moving of houses.

after reading the LADSPA related threads of about a month ago,  a 
couple of things became obvious to me:

* LADSPA has some showstopper deficiencies to some developers

* there seems to be an ongoing battle about how essential rdf 
metadata support should be: if it's purely optional, then many 
things that conceptually should be metadata must be duplicated in 
more or less inelegant additions to ladspa.h, and there seems to be 
no real consensus on how to do that. if metadata support is 
necessary even for simple hosts to create usable guis, we put the 
famed 'S' in danger.

* at present, the discussion has reached the "matter of taste" point 
and is pretty much dead in the water.

* with no real formal process for the development of LADSPA except 
for richard's role as the "benevolent dictator", and richard being 
very quiet on the matter, those developers who opt for an extension 
of the spec may feel there is no way to get their proposals through.

* maybe for that reason, there has been some imho ill-advised 
rhetoric towards fait-accompli tactics.


now wherever LADSPA is heading, one thing is very certain for me: 
LADSPA and JACK are the very two projects that absolutely *MUST* 
*NOT* *FORK* or even develop "local dialects" at this point in time.

i'm not afraid of forks in almost all contexts, but a forked 
"common" api is a dead api. whatever happens, let's not jeopardize 
the two major kickass components of linux audio.
there may come a time when LADSPA has become so inert and obsolete 
that we should take care of it the darwin way, but this time is 
still a long way off.


for that reason, let's try to cram a LADSPA BOF into the already 
overflowing schedule at LAConf#2, or at least dedicate a "working 
dinner" to the future of LADSPA.
i have this feeling that injecting the face-to-face factor and some 
german beer into the discussion might remove some obstacles. :-D


richard, if you are reading this, some comment from your part would 
also be helpful imho. i found you have not participated in the 
ladspa discussions since release 1.1, which was in august 2002.
it seems everyone still considers you the keeper of LADSPA, and it 
might clarify things if you stated

* your opinion on the current discussion;
* your criteria for approving extensions;
* whether you are willing and have the time to retain the role of 
official LADSPA maintainer and to have the final say over what goes 
in or what doesn't, or let go of this role;
* whether you can make it to LAConf#2 for a beer :)


all the best,

jörn






-- 
The handles of a craftsman's tools bespeak an absolute simplicity,
the plainest forms affording the greatest range of possibilities for
the user's hand.
That which is overdesigned, too highly specific, anticipates
outcome; the anticipation of outcome guarantees, if not failure, the
absence of grace.
         - William Gibson, "All Tomorrow's Parties"

Jörn Nettingsmeier
Kurfürstenstr 49, 45138 Essen, Germany
http://spunk.dnsalias.org (my server)
http://www.linuxaudiodev.org (Linux Audio Developers)