Hi.
We saw several forks :
https://bitbucket.org/daevaorn/suds-ews/
suds-jurko
...
I think it would be nice to refer to the suds version to use on the
official suds page, and if the repository displayed on the official page
is no more the most accurate one, maybe list another repository in the
TRAC or at least add a link to the most useable suds version.
Not really sure if there is anyone administering the main suds
project any more, so it becomes questionable what the 'official suds
page' is or represents.
Currently, suds is the main SOAP Python client that we can use and
looking at the official page, no changes for years, it seems dead...
And in fact it is not...
What could be done about this?
Well, I may be wrong but I do believe the SUDS project, as originally
developed, is dead, most likely due to having a single central developer
whose goals in life stopped including work on SUDS (and this is just me
guessing, I have not detailed info on this).
On the other hand, the project has had a lot of quality work put into
it, and generally 'just plain works and does what you'd like it to do'.
Since this is so, and since Python is such a great language to hack
around in - people find it simple to fork the project, quick-fix
whatever is needed to satisfy their local itch, and use that. That would
be my guess on why there are now many forks laying around.
Note that each of those forks has been prepared by different
developers, of different skill levels and with differing goals in mind.
Also, there is no 'central entity' in charge of synchronizing such
patches ... it's a true bazaar... :-)
That means the whole project's future will be one of the following:
1. It dies.
Possible if some other usable SOAP web service calling solution
becomes available in Python.
2. One of the forks gets enough traction by finding someone interested
enough to back further quality work on it.
Always a possibility, but never a certainty - developers change
interests, and, unless financially backed, need to spend most of their
time on their day job whose goals may or may not coincide with working
on suds, etc.
And if something like this does happen - there is no guarantee that
the project does not end up in the same state as the original one at
some later time - and possibly serves as a basis for another cycle. :-)
3. Things stay the same - we basically have one unchangeable central
legacy suds project and lots of little forks that come and go.
This seems the most likely scenario for the foreseeable future.
However, there are so many ways to use this software, so many nooks &
crannies in the standard, so many non-standard server implementations
and so many ways the code base needs to be updated to work with updated
technologies surrounding it that the current state of affairs seems
unlikely to work in the long run.
Well, that's my 2c worth... or more :-)
And as to the question of my own fork (suds-jurko, hosted on
BitBucket), I'll try to describe its state, why it got started & what my
hopes are for it in a separate thread to avoid confusing the issue in
this one.
Best regards,
Jurko Gospodnetić