Feature bounties

[badders]

I would like to offer some cash towards a bounty for FS#4801, is there a standard place for doing this? Should i do it here, or directly in the bug report?

[JdGordon]

you can offer them all you want... but that feature isnt happemning because we dont know how to access the serial port on the ipods (or we dont know the protocol)... one of them...

its not like we just dont want to be able to use those devices

[badders]

Yeah we do, the protocol is documented by the linux ipod guys

http://www.ipodlinux.org/Apple_Accessory_Protocol

[Llorean]

Yes, but tell me, does that include how to actually *use* the serial port on PP502x chips? AFAIK, it's only known for the PP5002.

[badders]

Im not quite sure if this is what you mean, but a quick google turns up

http://ipodlinux.org/PP5020

[badders]

Anyway, all i was asking was how i can offer a bounty, i really dont care about the details, the idea being:

1. Offer bounty
2. someone perhaps takes me up on bounty and does the work
3. said someone gets paid

The original questions is simply "how i can i offer a bounty sensibly"

[Llorean]

Please read our forum guidelines before posting again.

The point JDGordon was trying to make is that bounties don't magically make something any easier, or necessarily any more likely to get done. There is information missing, and until it somehow becomes available, whether this feature can be completed is more or less dependent on someone having very specialized skills. There is no proper place to offer a bounty, but the forums are pretty much the worst place because most of the developers don't read here.

That being said, if you want to do it "right" you need to figure out a way to ensure the funds will still be around and available when someone finishes the feature. Simply offering it doesn't mean you'll be around, or reachable, once someone's done with it, for example. Aren't there websites for offering open source bounties as it is?

[bluebrother]

Im not quite sure if this is what you mean, but a quick google turns up

We do not know how to use the hardware (it's a serial port of the CPU -- PP502x). The protocol itself is known and not the problem.

[badders]

I know bounties dont make anything easier, but like i say, all i want to do is offer one. The work might happen, it might not, im not interested in discussing the virtue of bounties or the details of implementing this feature. Heck, your own wiki suggest offering a bounty, and thats all i want to do. I dont understand this massive need of yours to go completely off point, all im asking "is there a rockbox project preferred way of offering a feature bounty". The wiki makes the suggestion of offering them, with no more info. I dont care about the details of the technical implementation of the feature, i just want to say "if anyone gets this done to some specific level of functionality, i will give that person X amount of dosh". it might invcentivise someone, it might not, i just want to make the damn offer.

Please read our forum guidelines before posting again.

The point JDGordon was trying to make is that bounties don't magically make something any easier, or necessarily any more likely to get done. There is information missing, and until it somehow becomes available, whether this feature can be completed is more or less dependent on someone having very specialized skills. There is no proper place to offer a bounty, but the forums are pretty much the worst place because most of the developers don't read here.

That being said, if you want to do it "right" you need to figure out a way to ensure the funds will still be around and available when someone finishes the feature. Simply offering it doesn't mean you'll be around, or reachable, once someone's done with it, for example. Aren't there websites for offering open source bounties as it is?

[Llorean]

You'll notice I did offer you some advice on posting a bounty as well. You haven't asked any further questions regarding it.

[saratoga]

I really don't think it makes any sense to offer a bounty for a feature that no one knows how to implement.

[DefineByte]

Someone could reverse engineer it, yes? I doubt anyone would offer enough to cover the time required to do it though.

[Bagder]

We've touched this area before, and my personal opinion is that we as in Rockbox doesn't need to help out to make a bounty system.

I think we should instead encourage people to do general donations for what has already been achieved and tell people what good stuff we use that money for.

Paying bounties for features when everything until now has been done unpaid is just opening up for a few more or less random people getting money for leveraging of the hard work done by others for no pay at all...

So if someone truly wants to pursue this kind of thing, I think it is up to each and every one to solve the issues involved.

[badders]

Sounds fair badger, thanks for the response.