[swift-users] introduction, and bugs/wishlist/features

[ghostlands at hush.com]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

All,

Thanks for the replies!

I'm including/responding to Bernard's message because it had the
most commentary, but I'll begin in response to Genghis, re: Swift
local sound controls:

AFAIK Windows has no per-app control of sound. I haven't run Vista
or 8 much yet, so maybe it has been implemented there, but I feel
comfortable in saying that elsewhere it does not exist natively in
the OS. In any case, even if it did exist it would be a bit of a
hack :/

Bernard:

Thanks for expressing your use cases.

As for transparency, there is no substitute for it in the modern
world of security.

Things like throwing some privately developed/closed source free
OTR plugin at Miranda, one that for instance is downloaded without
even SSL or at the very least able to be compared to a trusted SHA1
CH from an SSL protected site, are utterly sloppy and therefore
insecure by today's standards. Swift is not closed source,
obviously, and neither is the internal bug reporting process. This
is all superb. But though the devs may be super-competent (writing
a book on XMPP is probably a good indicator), they only have so
much time and interest - time is really the key component. More
eyes means more security. Making it difficult or awkward for the
project to listen to mouths connected to eyes that see flaws means
problems for the project/devs getting potentially useful or even
crucial data. Sometimes, just a reminder is nice - several other IM
clients haven't even released emergency post-Heartbleed updates,
something I think Swift may not need but in any case, an example of
something very easy to do that devs might just space out on and
forget.

Also, AFAIK Github's code is FOSS, it's just the server access that
you pay for if you need certain types of accounts. That has nothing
to do with sources. It's still OSS, just not FOSS (and in many use
cases it is FOSS, they do offer free accounts).

As for bug tracking, there is always Launchpad and Trac. Both work
very well, I think Launchpad is better for larger projects, as it
was originally designed for Canonical to develop Ubuntu. They each
have a very different feel but they are both great environments.

Obviously, we have the mailing list and the chat room (though I
often can't get into the latter). The chat room is probably
terrible as far as referenceability and the mailing list is at the
very least awkward. Neither can be linked to, for instance.

In the end, things that discourage the devs simply won't work and
this is the final and bottom line. These are just ideas, and
arguments and encouragement for them. I hope they are taken
positively and understood as having their origins in enthusiasm for
Swift and the care it took to create it.

By the way Kevin, I couldn't tell if you were still working on Psi,
but it was one of the clients that needed updated openssl. I just
did it manually, but still.


On Wed, 23 Apr 2014 09:13:14 +0000 "Bernhard Reiter"
<bernhard at intevation.de> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>for what it is worth:
>
>Am Sonntag, 20. April 2014 00:32:27 schrieb ghostlands at hush.com:
>>  - OTRv3 (or whatever is the latest version by the time
>development
>> begins, of course).
>
>I agree with this feature wish, OTR communications get sometimes
>requested by communication partners.
>
>>  - The next issue, and of lesser but still significant
>importance I
>> think, is user-facing and transparent bug report forms.
>
>This has potential to make swift development more transparent
>and grow more participants and feedback, but of course
>it is more work to maintain the infrastructure.
>(And it is hard to let this hosted on a Free Software plattform
>that is nice and accessible. Two popular choicese: Bitbucket and
>github ran on
>proprietary software, which I believe is not suitabel for a Free
>Software
>initiative like Swift.)
>
>I'd rather have the swift developers do their design thing their
>way
>than having them divide their forces to maintain infrastructure
>for
>transparency. While of course I agree that it would be a good
>thing
>in the long run. :)
>
>Am Montag, 21. April 2014 19:21:29 schrieb Genghis Khan:
>> On Sat, 19 Apr 2014 20:32:27 -0200 ghostlands at hush.com wrote:
>> > - This next issue is petty, and no other clients seem to
>concern
>> > themselves with it, but why not? It seems relevant. It is
>this:
>> > typically my volume on my computer is about 2/3 of the way up.
>At
>> > this volume, the notification sound of Swift blares
>startlingly out
>> > of the speakers. This sucks. It is alarming every time.
>
>I agree with the problem description, I think it is import to be
>able to tune
>notifications to use sound or other stuff.
>
>> You can either use KDE or GNOME mixers under Linux, or use the
>built-in
>> mixer of Microsoft Windows to specifically adjust volume level
>of Swift.
>
>How does this work? I'd appreciate a pointer to a more detailed
>manual or
>describtion, I just fired up the mixer from Plasma, but could not
>see how to
>specifically tune Swift notifications (using the Debian wheezy
>builds of
>swift-im and Plasma).
>
>Best,
>Bernhard
>--
>www.intevation.de/~bernhard (CEO)    www.fsfe.org (Founding GA
>Member)
>Intevation GmbH, Osnabrück, DE; Amtsgericht Osnabrück, HRB 18998
>Geschäftsführer Frank Koormann, Bernhard Reiter, Dr. Jan-Oliver
>Wagner
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Charset: UTF8
Version: Hush 3.0
Note: This signature can be verified at https://www.hushtools.com/verify

wsBcBAEBAgAGBQJTWfWTAAoJEJRqj8F0y8k5ucgH/0tcEZ4d7t0FLSS1j4RKb0yBT0Rj
TN3Vcjm5PYNMMhOXBFKis9yKvQ7h9yiLpolFx/Ll5XGy/BIJcqPyZbuxqMNCKk6QTVG0
84/Ce36RJGtJ6EKQYufxSLqt91xaSJ5Q6CQ6Cgoz8HsgZjR60LYV05fQUQsElZ4uEiR7
vaHkyE27LCDRloZ+lXWr5yJf1oomh33KmQXq3tgzSk4f28x3lPQeVYfj2hbq3lKLU2TE
x1+68M8dtI+B7hVoWw9+x1PR/4dE2YMdOczViHYge7XCOvn4p+wguq4a9aTxbd9Q3lHi
SlYDmxTUlaNkNNFRNqNGPVvnDw58iJUhyFH0T/odd1Y=
=Sh2L
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----