Ask HN: How to get open source maintainers to work together?

by sammyd56 on 10/18/2018, 3:25:24 PM with 2 comments
I want to develop a simple CLI app that interacts with an API. So I search GitHub for a Python wrapper. There are 5 different libraries. Each nearly does what I need, but none are quite there. One is missing endpoints. Another has them all, but lacks OAuth. A third looks promising, but has no tests. The fourth and fifth might be OK, but they have poor docs.

There are 5 different sets of people here, all working on exactly the same thing. If they were to collaborate effectively, there would be a single, canonical, full-featured library. As it stands, it's a mess.

As someone who wants to build an app with these libraries, what should I do?

Should I try to get people to work together? What is the best way to go about it? Is it my place to intervene? What do you personally do when you see duplication of effort?

  • by rurban on 10/18/2018, 3:41:02 PM

    Explain the problem and the benefits. You will hear back about the costs and other arguments. From there you can start convincing them that balkanization might be a problem.

  • by cimmanom on 10/19/2018, 9:31:18 AM

    If the licenses are compatible, fork and build your own, using the best code and concepts from each?