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			68 lines
		
	
	
		
			3.5 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Markdown
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			68 lines
		
	
	
		
			3.5 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			Markdown
		
	
	
	
	
	
LibreNMS is a fork of Observium.  The reason for the fork is nothing to do
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with Observium's [recent move to community vs. paid versions][1].  It is
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simply that we have different priorities and values to the Observium
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developers.  We decided to fork (reluctantly) because we like using
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Observium, but we want to collaborate on a community-based project with
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like-minded IT professionals.  See [README.md][2] and the references there
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for more information about the kind of community we're trying to promote.
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LibreNMS was forked from [the last GPL-licensed version of Observium][3].
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This has a few implications:
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- ~~It doesn't look as nice as the current version of Observium.~~
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- We've lost quite a bit of functionality that has been added to Observium
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  in the last year.
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- You won't be able to take an existing Observium installation later than
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  r3250 and just change it to LibreNMS.  This would probably break (although
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  if you were on a version between r3250 and the next database schema
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  change, it might be feasible).  Upgrades from versions earlier than r3251
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  might work.  Please try it on an unimportant system and tell us your
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  experiences!
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How LibreNMS will be different from Observium:
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- We will have an inclusive community, where it's OK to ask stupid
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  questions, and OK to ask for things that aren't on the roadmap.  If you'd
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  like to see something added, add or comment on the relevant issue in our
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  [GitHub issue database][9].
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- Development decisions will be community-driven.  We want to make software
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  that fulfills its users' needs.  See the [ROADMAP][4] for more thoughts
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  on our current plans.
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- Development will probably proceed at a slower pace, at least initially.
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- There are no plans for a paid version, and we don't anticipate this ever
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  changing.
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- There are no current plans for paid support, but this may be added later
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  if there is sufficient demand.
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- We use git for version control and GitHub for hosting to make it as easy
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  and painless as possible to create forked or private versions.
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Reasons why you might want to use Observium instead of LibreNMS:
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- You have a financial investment in Observium and aren't concerned about
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  community contributions.
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- You need the extra functionality that has been added to Observium since
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  r3250.
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- You don't like the [GNU General Public License, version 3][5] or the
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  [philosophy of Free Software][6] in general.
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Reasons why you might want to use LibreNMS instead of Observium:
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- You want to work with others on the project, knowing that [your
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  investment of time and effort will not be wasted][7].
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- You want to add and experiment with features that are not a priority for
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  the Observium developers.  See [CONTRIBUTING][8] for more details.
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[1]: http://postman.memetic.org/pipermail/observium/2013-October/003915.html
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"Observium edition split announcement"
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[2]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/README.md
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"LibreNMS README"
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[3]: http://fisheye.observium.org/rdiff/Observium?csid=3251&u&N
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"Link to Observium license change"
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[4]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/doc/ROADMAP.md
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"LibreNMS ROADMAP"
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[5]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/LICENSE.txt
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"LibreNMS copy of GPL v3"
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[6]: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
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"Free Software Foundation - what is free software?"
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[7]: http://libertysys.com.au/blog/observium-and-gpl
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"Paul's blog on what the GPL offers users"
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[8]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/blob/master/doc/CONTRIBUTING.md 
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"Contribution guidelines"
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[9]: https://github.com/librenms/librenms/issues
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"LibreNMS issue database at GitHub" |