Dear Bacula Community,
I have a few things to communicate in this message:
1. An update on the changes to the Bacula Project we made in April
2. The role and importance of Bacula Systems
3. An upcoming webinar on Bacula organized by Bacula Systems
4. My travel schedule for the next few weeks
*** Update on changes to the Bacula Project we made in April ***
You will remember that with the release of Bacula 3.0, we made some important
changes in the way we handle Bacula releases and support. Bacula 3.0 is the
faster moving, community edition branch of the Bacula Project. New features
are added first to this branch and bug fixes will be implemented here. For
example, we recently released Bacula 3.0.3 with several bugfixes. We are
currently adding new features in our development version, Bacula 3.1.x, which
will be released as Bacula 3.2.x, probably in January. Note that the project
no longer backports bugfixes to version 2.4.x. We introduced these changes to
allow the project to move forward more quickly.
At the same time we introduced Bacula 3.0, we also introduced a more stable
production branch of the project, called Bacula Enterprise Edition. Bacula
Enterprise Edition is currently on version 2.6.x. Bacula Enterprise Edition
is completely Open Source and is available under GPLv2, just like the Bacula
community edition. Bacula Systems offers subscriptions that provide certified
binary packages, software warranty and service level agreements for support.
Bugfixes are backported to Bacula Enterprise Edition and provided to
subscribers in certified binary packages. The source code for the Bacula
Enterprise Edition is available on request from Bacula Systems. Please be
aware, though, that the bug reporting system is only available to Bacula
Systems subscribers.
*** The role and importance of Bacula Systems ***
As Bacula has grown from its early beginnings in 2000 to the robust system it
has become, more and larger organizations started using it in high volume
production environments with mission critical data. Requests for new features
have become increasingly “production” and “enterprise” oriented. At
the same time, I am very concerned about the number of Open Source projects
are being scooped up by commercial interests (sometimes their own creators).
This is not in itself bad, but most often while the base code remains Open
Source, many of the new "production" and "enterprise" features that those
commercial interests add are closed source and only available if you buy a
license. An example of this closed source mentality in the backup market is
that Amanda was snapped up by the Zmanda venture capital group, who seem to be
trying to do the same to BackupPC.
To ensure that *all* Bacula code remains Open Source (even the high end
features), I contributed the Bacula copyrights to the Free Software Foundation
Europe so the project has the FSFE’s legal muscle to protect Bacula from any
attempts to take Bacula proprietary. And secondly, to respond to the demand
for higher end features, I founded Bacula Systems because it was clear we
need a legal foundation to be able to work with big companies to satisfy their
needs. Without an organization such as Bacula Systems, the Bacula project
risks either to stagnate or to end up in the hands of commercial interests
with closed source strategies.
I hope you understand the importance of Bacula Systems to the project. And,
even if you are not a Bacula Systems customer, I hope you understand how
important Bacula Systems is and will be in the future to you. Bacula Systems
provides a financial foundation that will allow the project to grow and to
benefit all members of the Bacula community.
*** Upcoming Webinar organized by Bacula Systems ***
I will do a live online briefing about Bacula on 3 December. I will discuss
current Bacula development priorities and future direction. I will also
select a number of “hot topics” from the user and developer mail lists and
address them. Webinar participants will be able to submit support questions
in advance, and the Bacula Systems team will provide answers during the
webinar. Other members of the Bacula Systems team will present some “tips and
tricks” on using Bacula. There will be a modest cost to participate. This
will be used to cover costs and any surplus will be used for Bacula
development expenses (we need some new hardware, and we have engaged
developers to add certain features). Information on the webinar and how to
register will be available on the home page at www.baculasystems.com.
*** My travel schedule for the next few weeks ***
I will be out of town an offline from 9-14 November, traveling in Africa to
visit a charitable project that I support. From 16-20 November I will be in
the US. I’ll be back at my computer by Monday 23 November, but I expect
I’ll be at less than 100% normal speed while I recover from the jet lag.
*** Thank you for your support of Bacula! ***
The success of Bacula and its ongoing development depend on the vigor of our
community. Your support takes many forms: bug reports and suggestions for new
features, contributions of code and bug fixes, regression testing,
documentation, and answering questions on the user-mail list. Thank you for
all this! And, of course we are encouraged and pleased by the many
compliments we receive, by your positive posts on many blogs, and by the
recommendations you give to others to try Bacula. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Kern
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