657650 - toolbox should note branching/merging and what is used by what

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Webtools Graveyard :: Toolbox, defect)

Description

[Jeff Hammel]

A primary role of toolbox is curation.  There are several important
questions toolbox would like to answer:

- What uses this software? For instance
  http://hg.mozilla.org/projects/addon-sdk/file/b8837d5790ba/python-lib/cuddlefish/runner.py#l275
  is from mozrunner.  How would people know this except to know it? In
  addition to the difficulty of coordination, having a list of
  downstream projects is useful for polling people that need these
  projects.  Is any API change going to cause problems? Who do you
  ask?

- Why aren't people using your software in a DRY fashion?  Is there a
  reason they forked your project? Is the API poor and they need some
  improvements? Do they not know how to use it? Or are there genuine
  irreconcialable differences? In the first two cases, people should
  work together to achieve the Nash equilibrium. In the latter case,
  it is unsupported software.

- Is this a fork of some project? Is the goal unification? What can be
  done to enrich the software ecosphere through consolidation versus
  confederacy?