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CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

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Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#11

Post by jessaustin »

meritt wrote: post #5

Can NPM not just override "core-js" when performing dependency resolution and point to a maintained fork?

It's probably a better idea for individual depending projects (all 19k of them!) to evaluate their own use of this module. They may issue new versions with new dependencies, or they may not. It's not as if this code will start killing puppies just because the maintainer is unavailable.

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#12

Post by battery_cowboy »

waterfowl wrote: post #7
jakear wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you want all packages you're responsible for being taken over by whomever happens to be NPM's preferred forker in the event of your getting into legal troubles? I'd be strongly against that. This should be handled the way any other fork happens: people create forks, other people audit them for stability and choose which to update their dependencies to. This isn't up to NPM to decide.

Now Microsoft's preferred forker. Yikes!

I'd rather hear Microsoft's suggestions on libraries to use than some random Joe Developer. They have/had unethical business practices, but their tech is really good and they have very smart people working for them.

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#13

Post by jnbiche »

saagarjha wrote: post #4

Some background: CoreJS is a widely used JavaScript library, apparently used for polyfilling by Babel. The author was previously know for asking for a job in npm install logs ( https://github.com/zloirock/core-js/issues/548 ), and recently seems to have gone to jail for vehicular manslaughter, leaving the project without a maintainer.

Evidently, it was his legal problems that provoked the job request and console ads, so I'm sympathetic. And based on the description above, it's highly unlikely that he would have been charged in most countries. The person who died was lying on the road at night, in dark clothes, intoxicated. Sympathy to her family, but that would count as an exculpating circumstance in most Western countries, I'm fairly sure.

I sure as hell that I'd do whatever I could legally to avoid going to a Russian (or American) prison, if what I'd done was an accident and of very doubtful criminality from the perspective of most countries. Wouldn't you?

Now he'll be stuck in a Russian prison for 2 years because of a tragic accident in which he was arguably not that negligent.

Edit: All of this is based on the facts as I have been able to find them online. I may be wrong in my interpretation.

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#14

Post by jnbiche »

nl wrote: post #10
jakear wrote: post #2

What a wild ride this has been. Looking at the police report, I do wonder what the punishment would be in other countries. It seems the victims were laying drunk on the ground in dark clothing at top a hill (edit: hill not mentioned in police report, but seems logical given the headlight statement), causing the headlight beams to not illuminate them. On top of that, incoming traffic blinded the driver. This is of cou…

I haven't read the full coverage, but it does appear it occurred at a pedestrian crossing, and there doesn't appear to be any dispute that it was properly signposted. Most countries require greater care at pedestrian crossings.

Yes, but they were lying flat on the road, intoxicated.

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#15

Post by jessaustin »

jakear wrote: post #2

What a wild ride this has been. Looking at the police report, I do wonder what the punishment would be in other countries. It seems the victims were laying drunk on the ground in dark clothing at top a hill (edit: hill not mentioned in police report, but seems logical given the headlight statement), causing the headlight beams to not illuminate them. On top of that, incoming traffic blinded the driver. This is of cou…

One could go to prison for this in USA, but only if the local police and prosecutors already hated one's guts for other reasons. In most cases a drunk pedestrian would be considered less sympathetic than a sober driver. Yes it is a pretty shabby "justice" when sympathies rather than facts determine verdicts.

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#17

Post by nostromo »

jakear wrote: post #2

What a wild ride this has been. Looking at the police report, I do wonder what the punishment would be in other countries. It seems the victims were laying drunk on the ground in dark clothing at top a hill (edit: hill not mentioned in police report, but seems logical given the headlight statement), causing the headlight beams to not illuminate them. On top of that, incoming traffic blinded the driver. This is of cou…

If you'll permit a tangent, there are a lot of drunk pedestrian fatalities. I don't think we talk enough about the risk of drunk walking.

Over one third of pedestrians killed in the US each year have been drinking too much to drive.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/05/drunk-...

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#19

Post by werkjohann »

meritt wrote: post #5

Can NPM not just override "core-js" when performing dependency resolution and point to a maintained fork?

You can: https://www.npmjs.com/policies/disputes

> This process is an excellent way to: Adopt an "abandoned" package

Harder is taking control of the GitHub project where the bug tracker lives and people are used to sending patches.

Re: CoreJS: State of the project? Looks like dead. Any official fork?

#20

Post by sdegutis »

jakear wrote: post #2

What a wild ride this has been. Looking at the police report, I do wonder what the punishment would be in other countries. It seems the victims were laying drunk on the ground in dark clothing at top a hill (edit: hill not mentioned in police report, but seems logical given the headlight statement), causing the headlight beams to not illuminate them. On top of that, incoming traffic blinded the driver. This is of cou…

After reading the whole translation linked in the GitHub issue, and being a father of 6 kids who love to make me practice being a judge every day as if I have nothing better to do, I’m convinced the judgment is reasonable. Even in our tiny library parking lot, I very often see people driving unreasonably fast between all the parked cars and the library door, often within a foot of the cars. Even if they are driving within the speed limit, there are constantly people coming out from between cars in a way that they can’t be detected by cars ahead of time, especially young children who don’t have the life experience to know to come out slower. It’s unquestionably dangerous to drive like that, yet I see it almost every single day. One of these days someone is going to get hurt. And in this case it looks like the same circumstances: a bit of reasonable cautiousness could have possibly prevented the driver from not seeing the people apparently laying on the crosswalk. Unless the driver followed every single procedure of the road perfectly, they are at fault to at least some degree. And someone is dead. It’s just a generally awful situation all around and nobody wins.
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