I'm just quoting an (anonymized) excrept from an IRC conversation I had:

====
19:42 < fooo> Does anyone know Max who is the main contributor to OP25 project? We're trying to run OP25
on XTRX and with many forks it's a bit difficult to understand what works and what doesn't
(not to mention the setup is completely non-trivial by itself)
19:45 < Baaaaaaar> i guess.. no one? wasn't that abandoned years ago?
19:46 < baaaaaz> just receiving? maybe it's easier to get it working with rtl-sdr first and then work
from there
19:50 < fooo> Not really abandoned - last commit Apr 27, 2018
19:50 < fooo> "max" branch
19:50 < fooo> There are also several forks which were never merged...
19:51 < fooo> baaaaaz, It doesn't really matter rtl-sdr vs XTRX since it's GnuRadio. It's that most
how-tos are completely outdated and are not compatible with the modern GNURadio...
19:52 < fooo> Ideally we'd like Tx too - I saw someone on YouTube showing Tx and OP25 has a repeater
mode. But yes. at least Rx would be nice
19:53 < baaaaaz> I see
19:54 <@LaF0rge> fooo: just contact their mailing list?
19:54 <@LaF0rge> Baaaaaaar: it's less abandoned than DECT or TETRA
19:55 <@LaF0rge> fooo: op25-dev@yahoogroups.com
19:55 < fooo> LaF0rge, Ok, thanks.
19:56 < fooo> Just curios - does he has any page/blog/LinkedIn? I don't think I've ever seen him at
OsmoDevCons?
19:57 <@LaF0rge> fooo: none of the OP25 guys has ever showed up in person at any event. I guess they were
originally from AU, so quite a bit far?
19:57 < fooo> AU = Australia?
19:57 <@LaF0rge> fooo: yes
19:58 < fooo> I see
19:58 < fooo> Looking at the commit history it's pretty much only Max who is contributing
19:59 <@LaF0rge> but maybe I remember wrongly. In any case, you won't find any APCO25 in Europe [not
that I know of] so the "classic Osmocom people" have limited use for playing with it
20:17 < fooo> Btw, https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/search?query=op25 returns empty result
20:25 < Baaaaaaar> like i said... dead
20:29 < fooo> I don't think the project is dead, they just don't know/want to run it as a real community
project...
20:29 < fooo> I mean they probably just care about scratching their own itch. Which is not bad, it's just
not community
20:30 <@LaF0rge> the op25-dev mailing list is active. I'm following it. Many posts in april, few in may
20:31 <@LaF0rge> op25-dev-subscribe@yahoogroups.com should work
20:33 <@LaF0rge> https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/op25-dev
====

All the above are long-term Osmocom developers. So as you can see, it's
easy to jump to wrong conclusions, if most development happens out of
master, and if the yahoo group is restricted/hidden and not publicly
archived :)

I'm not saying the fault is with OP25. If people want to jump to quick
conclusions without informing themselves properly, they have no right
to complain.

And of course it's the OP25 developers decision how to run their project
and their communications mechanisms, but I couldn't help but wonder and
raise the questions below:

Is there any specific reason that the op25-dev yahoo group is
* restricted (i.e. no public archive)
* not listed in the yahoo group index (makes it hard to find)

I would argue that it's a FOSS project, and information related to it
should be public rather than hidden.

I also have an archive of op25-dev at least from March 2012 onwards that
I'd be willing to share. We could import it into the lists.osmocom.org
mailman so would have a web-accessible archive that can be indexed by
search machines, etc.

You could of course also migrate to a list on lists.osmocom.org, but
that is of course a separate question, and always causing lots of
fall-out, with everyone having to update their filter rules, aliases,
etc. - so maybe not such a good idea.

Let me know what you think about any of the suggestions above. Do
with them what you like, it's just a friendly comment from your friends
involved in other Osmocom projects...

And btw: If anyone ever wants to show up for OsmoDevCon, please do reach out,
we'd be more than happy to learn about OP25 and the people behind it!

Regards,
Harald
--
- Harald Welte <laforge@gnumonks.org> http://laforge.gnumonks.org/
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