Mebitag
Questions
2. I know a program that's much better than Mebitag.
3. Why is there no command-line front-end to libmebi?
4. I've made a program that uses libmebi.
5. Can I make proprietary derivative works?
6. In what languages is Mebitag available, besides English?
7. Is it possible to compile Mebitag for Windows?
8. Why don't you use distributed version control?
9. My system doesn't like the pre-made Makefile.
10. Why are your lines of code so long?
11. Where did you get that HTML template?
Answers
What's with the name?
At first I thought that the flexibility of the program I had made allowed you to do "a million different things." So I tried to work the metric prefix "Mega" into the name. This proved very stupid as there are hundreds of programs that already include the prefix "Mega" and most of them aren't very good. I changed it to something slightly more original, the "Mebi" prefix which is more useful in computing because it represents 1024 squared. Top
I know a program that's much better than Mebitag.
Great! You should tell me what it is! I have never found a program that lets you organize media collections with this kind of flexibility. Some of the things I use Mebitag for could be done by Griffith but not very well. Top
Why is there no command-line front-end to libmebi?
I was planning to make a command-line program allowing the manipulation of a Mebitag database using SQL-like commands. However, one summer was not enough time for me to learn SQL and now the endeavour seems quite pointless because I have discovered xmllint. It is a utility that comes with libxml2 that allows an XML file to be browsed like a directory. If you must have a command-line program, the original proof of concept I used was a single C file: mebitag.c which I do not endorse in any way. It's only here so you can see "the program's history" if you will. It requires libtecla which I would take over GNU Readline any day. Top
I've made a program that uses libmebi.
Great! Please tell me so I can advertise that libmebi is being used in other projects. If you think it's an essential addition to the core Mebitag package, I will have to look at the code carefully and if it looks alright, I will gladly add it to the package. If you're looking for some ideas, Qt and ncurses interfaces would be great. Top
Can I make proprietary derivative works?
Making a proprietary fork of Mebitag is not allowed. If you copy parts of the Mebitag code for a program you write, that program must be open-source and compatible with the LGPL. However, if your proprietary application is simply linked against libmebi and only uses Mebitag code in this way, that is perfectly fine. Top
In what languages is Mebitag available besides English?
Unfortunately none. If you've translated a program in po before and would like to translate this one, just ask for developer access. Also email me if you would like to informally submit a translation and make me worry about the programming. Top
Is it possible to compile Mebitag for Windows?
Probably, but I haven't tried and do not plan to any time soon. Top
Why don't you use distributed version control?
Because I cannot wrap my head around branching and merging. When a casual user updates a Subversion repository, he or she can be guaranteed that it will work. Subversion won't ask the user to fix diff conflicts that only a developer intimately familiar with the program would know how to do. Mebitag is so simple that rewriting the program from scratch would probably be faster than sorting out one of these conflicts. I may be exaggerating a little but I really like Subversion even though it may not be as powerful as Git. Top
My system doesn't like the pre-made Makefile.
First, you should say what your system is so I can try fixing the Makefile. If at all possible I would like to avoid using GNU Autocrap with this project. A single configure script has more lines of code than the entire Mebitag project and running this configure script takes longer than compiling Mebitag. And does it work better? I somehow doubt that. I'd like to see someone rename /usr/bin/sed to /home/hiding_place/hidden_sed and still get their GNU configure script to figure out where the sed binary is. Top
Why are your lines of code so long?
My first C teacher ever (me) taught me that a line is a line is a line. Maybe this is why there are no other developers on the project... Top
Where did you get that HTML template?
After about a minute of searching, I found it here but it needed some re-working. Top