Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 159 posts

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#41

Post by throw2016 »

This is undoubtedly shady behavior. dstat is a widely regarded and mature tool. Looking at its repo for 'activity' without context - maybe nothing needs to be changed and its working as designed - is completely disingenious.

Why should repo activity without context be used as an indicator of anything in discussion instead of focusing on what Redhat has done?

This is openly hijacking an open source project by a billion dollar company because it can and makes a mockery of not only open source colloboration culture but basic professional behavior. Has Redhat reached out to the author, made any requests, tried to work out some way forward, offered to pay for the brand name? Cmon this is simply indefensible.

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#42

Post by jsnell »

tedivm wrote: post #24

Having read through this post and the previous comments[1] I have to say that RedHat did the right thing in the completely worst possible way. Stealing the project name was a mistake. The authors are right to be upset by the fact that people used to get their project when they did "yum install dstat" but now are getting a completely different (and not completely compatible) project. I think a lot of the friction coul…

You've misunderstood. The "dstat" package was removed from Fedora, rather than have its contents replaced. The package containing the new program is called "pcp-dstat", so they already did everything you think they should have done.

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#43

Post by dagwieers »

loeg wrote: post #16
nightfly wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The git repo linked here has 6 commits on Jan 16, 2019. And Nov 23, 2016 the last new commits before then.

To contrast, Redhat's pcp dstat looks like it was mostly developed during 2018 (a period during which dstat had been totally inactive for 2-3 years): https://github.com/performancecopilot/pcp/commits/master/src...

18 months

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#44

Post by dagwieers »

mehrdadn wrote: post #27
fooker wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GitHub PRs being ignored seems totally true. https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aclos...

Which PRs are you talking about? PRs I see there are either all from the last 4 hours or from 2016 and earlier that were merged.

As part of archiving the project, I closed all open issues and PRs. That was what Github recommended me to do and I deemed best for everyone involved.

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#45

Post by billfruit »

dagwieers wrote: post #20
rlpb wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wish they had changed the name if they were forking or reimplementing without permission. Has the name not changed to "pcp", or am I missing something? "pcp dstat" appears to be a command, but that seems like a reasonable abbreviation for "hey pcp, please give me a dstat-like interface". [Edit] Correction. https://github.com/dagwieers/dstat/issues/156 says the following, so there is a compatibility symlink using…

> community developers requesting access to help were being ignored This is not true, I have not been contacted. I learned from Fedora's decision to replace Dstat with PCP months after it was already decided. So it's not like I have had a choice. The choices I have today are: 1. Continue with a project, while Fedora/RHEL is shipping a tool by the same name (with 90% of my code) 2. Rename the original Dstat project, w…

But isn't red hat calling their version 'pcp-dstat' and not simply 'dstat', so they aren't shipping with the exact same name.

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#46

Post by tmyklebu »

jsnell wrote: post #42
tedivm wrote: post #24

Having read through this post and the previous comments[1] I have to say that RedHat did the right thing in the completely worst possible way. Stealing the project name was a mistake. The authors are right to be upset by the fact that people used to get their project when they did "yum install dstat" but now are getting a completely different (and not completely compatible) project. I think a lot of the friction coul…

You've misunderstood. The "dstat" package was removed from Fedora, rather than have its contents replaced. The package containing the new program is called "pcp-dstat", so they already did everything you think they should have done.

What makes you think he misunderstood? What happens on fc30 when you 'yum install dstat' as he suggested?

This webpage listing the contents of the fc30 pcp-system-tools package: https://fedora.pkgs.org/30/fedora-updates-x86_64/pcp-system-...

lists a file called '/usr/bin/dstat'. The pcp-system-tools package obsoletes a package called 'dstat'. If you go to https://pkgs.org/download/dstat, and look under "Fedora 30," you get pcp-system-tools.

[Spoiler: 'yum install dstat' installs pcp-system-tools, which has a symlink /usr/bin/dstat -> /usr/libexec/pcp/bin/pcp-dstat.]

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#47

Post by dagwieers »

dataflow wrote: post #39
dagwieers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, and Red Hat being paid for RHEL shipping Dstat for a decade could have helped out. But instead they decided to replace it. And as a result I don't see a point continuing a project with the same name.

>>>> community developers requesting access to help were being ignored >>> This is not true >> GitHub PRs being ignored seems totally true. > Sure, and Red Hat being paid for RHEL shipping Dstat for a decade could have helped out. But instead they decided to replace it. It's one thing to be upset due to a belief that Red Hat/others are at fault, but why lie to make your point?

Who lied about this ?

It's pretty clear we didn't accepted any PRs since December 2016 until Red Hat decided to replace our code, which started early June 2018. That's 18 months.

If I am upset about anything, it is this: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1614277#c7

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#48

Post by mindcrime »

loeg wrote: post #19
marktangotango wrote: post #10

Performance monitoring tools for enterprises can be very lucrative. Surely they’ll move to an “open core”, closed source commercial license for the useful bits, if they haven’t already.

That isn't Redhat's model. They open the code (it's mostly 3rd party OSS anyway), including packages (hence, CentOS) and sell access to the updates system and support contracts.

That isn't Redhat's model.

Well... it hasn't been so far. But this isn't the old Red Hat anymore. This is IBM Hat. And for all the talk about keeping Red Hat mostly independent or whatever, I think we all know that's bullshit. Acquiring companies always give that little dog and pony show, and it never holds up in the long-term. There's no way that IBM culture won't wind up infecting Red Hat. Now whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is a question I'll leave to the philosophers. But I'd be very leery of assuming anything regarding what RH will or won't do going forward.

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#49

Post by dagwieers »

tedivm wrote: post #24

Having read through this post and the previous comments[1] I have to say that RedHat did the right thing in the completely worst possible way. Stealing the project name was a mistake. The authors are right to be upset by the fact that people used to get their project when they did "yum install dstat" but now are getting a completely different (and not completely compatible) project. I think a lot of the friction coul…

It didn't just slip their mind, they did not really care: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1614277#c7

The decision to do this was made before June 2018, 18 months after the last activity. One of the reasons cited was lack of activity, but that is no thanks to them, I guess.

That is why I am convinced the goal was to replace it from the onset, there was no interest in helping out the project. In fact "no activity" was the right excuse to make their action seem legitimate. Attempting to contact the project could have jeopardized that plan.

They could have just removed "dstat" from the distribution, and added a note that users can now use pcp-dstat. But now they made it impossible for users to add the original dstat. Let alone the support nightmare of having a different tool with the same name. There's no winning this one.

Re: Dstat project ended due to RedHat replacing it with its own dstat tool

#50

Post by tedivm »

tedivm wrote: post #24

Having read through this post and the previous comments[1] I have to say that RedHat did the right thing in the completely worst possible way. Stealing the project name was a mistake. The authors are right to be upset by the fact that people used to get their project when they did "yum install dstat" but now are getting a completely different (and not completely compatible) project. I think a lot of the friction coul…

Apparently reusing the name without talking to the author was a conscious decision on their behalf-

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1614277#c7

Post reply on HN