NOTICE: cancan is moving!

[codyolsen]

"parting is such sweet sorrow"

As discussed for the last month in the comment thread of pull https://github.com/ryanb/cancan/pull/989 it is time to move cancan forward before it fizzles. While the community support behind this gem is high, and pull requests have been added daily, the last merge into the official gem was in September of 2013. We both love and support the work that @ryanb has given to this gem, and in hopes to keep his legacy alive we have the following solution:

Enter cancancan

This will be the new gem repository going forward. Please put issues and pull requests in the new repo, as we will now be able to merge fixes into the main gem. Thanks to @bryanrite, as he has spearheaded the effort for the new repo.

• https://github.com/cancancommunity/cancancan
• https://rubygems.org/gems/cancancan

For more details on the transition, please look at the readme on the new repo and the comment thread.

[xhoy]

+1

[yas375]

Just curious, why cancancan is not a fork of the original repo on Github? Since cancancan is a fork I'd like to see a note under its title on Github: forked from ryanb/cancan. It would be more clear and appropriate imho...

And another reason for doing this is that if someone hits cancan page and notices it has no updates for a long time, then he can go to Network page of cancan and to find out most maintainable forks there.

[bryanrite]

FYI all: I've moved cancancan into a open source organization on Github so maintainership does not rest on one individual:

https://github.com/cancancommunity/cancancan

It will redirect links and git access properly, so no need to update any posted links, but we can use this going forward.

[tommyblue]

:+1:

[manusajith]

:thumbsup:

[xhoy]

Wouldn't it a be a good idea to comment on ALL open pr’s and bugs that Cancan is moving. If they feel there bug or pr is still applicable they can resubmit it to cancancan?

I would suggest the following text:

Dear submitter, Since cancan/raynB hasn't been active for more than 6 months cancan is moving forward to cancancan. More details on: #994
If your feel that your pull request or bug is still applicable it would be really appreciated if you would resubmit it to cancancan (https://github.com/cancancommunity/cancancan) We hope to see you on the other side!

Good idea or not?

[codyolsen]

@xhoy I think that would be appropriate. It might be worth mentioning that the new repo already has significant improvements and fixes. Thus said, something asking the submitters to make sure their bug/feature hasn't already been added before submitting would be a useful filter for duplicates.

In your sample text you already have "your pull request or bug is still applicable," which is more or less what I've said here. I would just add the fact that it might have already been fixed/added. If I was in their shoes, that would make me a happy camper and inspire me to look further into the new repo.

[bryanrite]

I've shied away from blanketing all outstanding issues and PRs on cancan because cancancan is not really "officially" sanctioned... I've been referencing cancan PRs in issues I open on cancancan, so there is a note made in the original PR.

Unfortunately cancan doesn't have a mailing list and its IRC channel is empty so I'm not sure how else to get the word out.

[codyolsen]

I think the term "official" is relative, especially in open source. In my eyes cancancan is much more official than cancan. However, I don't feel particularly inclined to debate semantics. :smile:

[xhoy]

I agree with @codyolsen on this, but i share you feelings @bryanrite. We could address this the message a bit more. I didn't felt right to go in too mutch details about ryan 'disappearing' and just keep it simple and straight.

rewirten proposal:

Dear submitter, Since cancan/raynB hasn't been active for more than 6 months and no body else then ryam himself has commit permissions the cancan project is on a stand still. Since cancan has several issues including missing support for rails 4 cancan is moving forward to cancancan. More details on: #994

If your feel that your pull request or bug is still applicable (and hasn't been merged in to cancan) it would be really appreciated if you would resubmit it to cancancan (https://github.com/cancancommunity/cancancan) We hope to see you on the other side!

[xhoy]

So what do we do with it? any future thoughts?

[codyolsen]

Sorry for the delay @xhoy. I don't think it would hurt to add a notice to any new issues that pop up. :+1:

[xhoy]

and the old issues?

[dideler]

@xhoy here's an improved version of the text you're using

Thanks for your submission! The ryanb/cancan repository has been inactive since Sep 06, 2013. Since only Ryan himself has commit permissions, the CanCan project is on a standstill.

CanCan has many open issues, including missing support for Rails 4. To keep CanCan alive, an active fork exists at cancancommunity/cancancan. The new gem is cancancan. More info is available at #994.

It would be really appreciated if you resubmit your pull request or issue to CanCanCan.

We hope to see you on the other side!

The markdown is available at https://gist.github.com/dideler/10892406 (raw).

[vietqhoang]

In the future please reconsider spamming every active issue with the same message. I was on the watch list for ryanb/cancan until an individual decided to blanket each active issue with the same message regarding the new active fork. I received 80+ email notifications (and a flooded Github update feed) until I removed myself from the watch list; essentially my phone was going off for the last 30 minutes. I didn't want to weather out the eventual 250+ notifications.

[xhoy]

@vietqhoang sorry for that! I hadn't tough about people who watch the hole repo! Look at it from the bright side, you know there is a fork know!

[owahab]

:+1: