Getting help with open source software

By apexwm, 31 May, 2011 13:51

One of the best things about open source, particularly those that adhere to the GNU General Public License (GPL) is that the code must be made available for the general public. This entire design has many benefits as described by the GPL's creator, Richard Stallman. If you ever want some interesting reading, look into why he created the GPL and what it is designed to do. I've found it very interesting on his personal thoughts and what he experienced with the Xerox code and how it spawned his crusade for opening up source code for software. The book "Free as in Freedom" is a good read on this subject.

Recently as I wrote about previously, I had the pleasure of replacing Windows XP and Windows 2000 with Fedora 14 for several people. With those deployments, I found a problem with each one that I was not able to fix right away. It was with Rhythmbox (a full featured media player that is installed with Fedora by default). Rhythmbox has been quirky in the past, partially because I think the developers have tried to make it support a wide variety of players, formats, and also give it a lot of features that are common with media players now. But, the issues I saw with every Fedora 14 installation was that when opening Rhythmbox the first time, it would pop up with an error saying "Unable to activate plugin Audio CD Player". After clicking Close for the error, Rhythmbox would open up and work until a mp3 song was played. When playing any mp3 song, another error would pop up saying "The playback of this movie requires a GStreamer element audioconvert plugin which is not installed.".

I finally had some time to get to the bottom of these issues. After searching on Google, I found another bug tracking forum for Debian, a completely different Linux distribution, mentioning this same problem and the fix was to install the "orc libraries". Looking at Fedora's package database, I found the "orc" package and installed it (using the command "sudo yum install orc"). I also performed the additional steps mentioned in the forum which were to delete the "~/.gstreamer-0.10/" folder and run the command "gst-inspect -b" to build a new registry for GStreamer. After doing the recommended steps, mp3 files were working again like normal. Also, I discovered another Ubuntu specific post mentioning the "unable to activate CD player" error, which mentioned installing the "musicbrainz" package. I again searched Fedora and found that when installing "libmusicbrainz3", it resolved the issue. A little bit of research, and a little tinkering using the command prompt, but the information is out there.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Proprietary software cannot provide as this level of support in the community, because the code is hidden from the general public. Imagine using a proprietary software package, a proprietary media player for example. Nobody except those that have access to the code would be able to track down the issue. Otherwise, it is just a guessing game for the software users. In worst case scenarios, those with access to the code can charge for support, even after charging the customer for the software itself. Thankfully though, it is getting more common for software vendors to provide basic Q&A or forums with common fixes for their software, as somebody would have to contact the vendor in the first place to report the problem. But only with true open source under the GPL, can the code be examined by the general public, tested, and a solution found right away. And for those that are not able to do this, forums with those that are able to, are open for discussion among the various parties in a global cooperative effort.

Talkback

Good points, and well stated. I particularly like the part about the cross-pollination of problem solutions. I am often installing various Linux distributions on unusual or very new hardware, and when I run into problems I very frequently find solutions in discussion forums for some distribution other than the one I am installing. You are exactly right, this is one of the really big advantages of using open source software.

jw
J.A. Watson 31 May, 2011 20:03
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Actually, I don't understand the point at all. I run both Linux (Ubuntu and Debian) and Windows on most of my PCs and the same tactic to run down problems applies for each OS. If a similar problem were to crop up in Windows there are plenty of on-line forums to peruse and others to talk to to solve the problems. Furthermore, in your example you did not actually look at any code, let alone modify any code and re-compile, so what difference did it make that the code is open source? How do you know that the people providing the solution looked at any code?

There are any number of great things to say about open source software, but you've provided none of them.
CREnvy 31 May, 2011 23:21
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While I like the concept of open source software, as a tech-illiterate one of the most terrifying aspects of it (thankfully my girlfriend gets this stuff) is that many users do see "go do this to the code" as being a useful response to the problem.

As those who can't code (Can't code, won't code - there's a TV show in there somewhere) are going to be put off open source until it assures them that it will "just work", how come this never seems to be the message?

Or have I missed something?
archerthom 1 June, 2011 09:26
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CREnvy :

"Actually, I don't understand the point at all. I run both Linux (Ubuntu and Debian) and Windows on most of my PCs and the same tactic to run down problems applies for each OS. If a similar problem were to crop up in Windows there are plenty of on-line forums to peruse and others to talk to to solve the problems. "

My point was to compare open source with closed source (proprietary). There are many disadvantages of closed source software. I think you are comparing open source on Linux to open source on Windows. In that case, yes, solutions can be found for both platforms for an open source product. But I prefer Linux over Windows because the entire Linux platform is open source, so no matter if the issue is operating system related or related to one particular product, the code is all open and solutions can be found.

"Furthermore, in your example you did not actually look at any code, let alone modify any code and re-compile, so what difference did it make that the code is open source? How do you know that the people providing the solution looked at any code?"

In my example, the providers of the solution must have been familiar with the code in order to know the missing dependencies. I suspect they were developers of Rhythmbox or knew enough about it. If the product had been closed source, how would anybody know what the dependencies are or what libraries are needed for the product? Nobody except those that know enough about the product or have access to the code, so the amount of help that can be obtained is limited.

archerthom :

A huge amount of users never need to "look at the code", but there are usually those that can and will be more than willing to help those that can't or won't. The forums scattered around for open source are vast and my example above is just scratching the surface. Just about every open source product has some form of help available, usually with direct access with the developers, which allows direct interaction and help.

But, to answer your question, you should never need to "look at the code". A lot of things "just work" in GNU/Linux, and when it doesn't, forums and online resources can help. I mentioned Fedora in my example which is a cutting edge distribution that is almost guaranteed to have bugs. Other distributions like Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, or Linux Mint are probably better for those that do not want to deal with fixing bugs.
apexwm 1 June, 2011 13:58
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My general comment is that computing does not have to be like operating a toaster; Microsoft and Apple have miseducated millions of consumers to understand operating systems as "the brain" of the appliance. The fact is that opensource computing causes the consumer to learn about what is in the box that permits the end-user experience. So, in my view the author is explaining with a great example how the opensource community supports thoughtful inquiry around what often is taken for granted, and how proprietary-code developers even discourage thought about computing.
Jer Teichman via Facebook 5 June, 2011 16:52
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