It has been good to see the response to my messages last week. Xymon sure isn't dead, judging from the response.
There are lots of issues being raised right now. Project management stuff like where to host the project, what tools to use for tracking bugs or accessing the code repository and so on. Frankly, I think we must focus on getting the project re-activated with a new project admin, and then let him decide the details of running it all.
We should aim for "evolution", not "revolution".
As I see things, the new project admin(s) will have to handle the following tasks:
Manage who has access to the source code repository. So new contributors can get access to commit code. That means the project admin must follow the discussions on the mailing list, because you should know people well enough to trust their contributions before giving the access to commit changes. Until you are sure that they deliver some quality code (at least, it doesn't break other developers' stuff!) then it is better to let them submit code to one of the more senior developers. It is a balance, because you don't want the senior developers to become a bottleneck ... but some code review by those familiar with Xymon will be needed. The developers mailing list will be a vital tool for this to discuss new contributions and development strategies.
Maintain a list of feature requests and ideas for new versions. This probably also means planning which ideas go into the next version, and which ones will just have to wait. This is difficult, because you have to have some vision of where we are going - and that is the stuff that flamewars are made of.
Plan each release, i.e. keep track of what is missing before a release is done - both bugfixes and new features. This means you must decide when to "freeze" a branch in the code repository to let it stabilize, and also when a new development branch can be started.
Do the release, but if you have handled the above tasks then that simply means flagging the code with the "release" tag, exporting a tar-file from the code repository and sending out the announcement.
Several persons have offered their assistance - working on some code, writing documentation, translating. That is very encouraging, and I am sure your contributions will be welcome.
But we need someone to take care of managing it all, and after careful consideration I have asked Buchan Milne to take on the task of keeping the Xymon project alive. I am very pleased to announce that he has accepted.
Please join me in thanking Buchan for taking on this new role, and do whatever you can to help him move the project forward.
Regards, Henrik