MD-UV380/390 source code

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WA3FME
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MD-UV380/390 source code

Post by WA3FME » Mon May 08, 2023 3:36 pm

I love that the source code has been released for the UV380/390 radios and im enjoying poking around and learning how some things work but i was wondering if the devs plan on updating it at all with the newer features? Or if their would be a way to decompile the latest firmware so one could make changes if possible?

VK3KYY
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Re: MD-UV380/390 source code

Post by VK3KYY » Mon May 08, 2023 9:11 pm

Source code is published for "Stable" releases.but not for Alphas Betas or Experimental versins
If you look at the GD77 there are multiple releases for which there is source code

It is far to much work for the developers to publish source code as soon as each minor update is published.

R1CBU
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Re: MD-UV380/390 source code

Post by R1CBU » Mon May 08, 2023 9:24 pm

It is far to much work for the developers to publish source code as soon as each minor update is published.
This could be fixed by switching to git, but "this is the way"

VK3KYY
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Re: MD-UV380/390 source code

Post by VK3KYY » Mon May 08, 2023 11:02 pm

R1CBU wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 9:24 pm
It is far to much work for the developers to publish source code as soon as each minor update is published.
This could be fixed by switching to git, but "this is the way"
The source code was originally on Git but this casued all sorts of problems with people taking development code that was a work in progress and releasing the firmware on under their own name, on social media and other radio forums, with half finished new features before we had finished writing and testing it.

Apart from this being unethical, it caused loads of problems with people complaining about serious problems becuase they were using firmware based on code that wasn't stable enough to be released.

So. We will never be doing that again, as it was a complete nighmare.

M0GZP
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Re: MD-UV380/390 source code

Post by M0GZP » Tue May 16, 2023 2:54 pm

VK3KYY wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 11:02 pm
The source code was originally on Git but this casued all sorts of problems with people taking development code that was a work in progress and releasing the firmware on under their own name, on social media and other radio forums, with half finished new features before we had finished writing and testing it.

Apart from this being unethical, it caused loads of problems with people complaining about serious problems becuase they were using firmware based on code that wasn't stable enough to be released.

So. We will never be doing that again, as it was a complete nighmare.
With respect, isn't this how "Open" development should work? What is "unethical" about forking an open project? I understand the support issue -- but that's easily dealt with by making it clear that support is only provided for official builds. As for people releasing "their own versions" -- you're sharing the source anyway, so if someone is going to do that they can do it anyway...

I installed OpenGD77 quite recently, and I love it. I've had some ideas for how it could be improved, and as a developer with experience of embedded programming my first instinct was to try and find the official repository so that I can take a look at making changes and submitting a PR. That lead me to lots of "orphaned" repositories with old code, and to this thread.

If I spend some time working on code and while I am working on it a new version is released, what do I do exactly? SCM systems such as git exist explicitly to solve this problem. Grabbing a zip file of a point in time release, without any meaningful change control, and then manually having to update to integrate future changes and merging manually with my updates, is not a useful way to develop in this day and age! Shouldn't an open project want to attract new developers and make it easy for them to contribute? Am I missing something?

-simon

R1CBU
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Re: MD-UV380/390 source code

Post by R1CBU » Tue May 16, 2023 9:25 pm

Developers have the right to develop as they see fit. They don't owe anyone anything. As a developer, I also understand this very well, and we need to come to terms with this.

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