just wonder why i have to pay for this open source software?

I must say that I share the same questions/feelings here with the poster. Of course GPL allows for modifying and selling GPL-covered software, but it just does not feel right. I have been involved with FOSS for years, mainly for Q&A and beta testing. Never charged anything, never will. Then again I do not have to pay the bills, but remember that the original transmission and the original rtorrent are free (or donate-ware) projects. And we are talking about projects made from the start, not some porting work...Plus, pay per-upgrade? I really hope that someone ports a Debian/optware-like mechanism here. I am in envy of the v1 ReadyNAS models :(

If you want to develop your own apps or install Transmission for your own use via SSH you are free to do so but when you consider all the effort you'd need to go to do so, I'd argue the cheaper option would be to support the developer and buy the App.Now WhoCares? (ReadyNASXtras) spends a lot of time developing his add-ons as does another developer super-poussin (in fact it looks like it's super-poussin who's posted a Genie App for Transmission).There's a fair bit of work involved in doing things such as:1. Compile add-on (this can take several hours, if not longer depending on which add-on is installed)2. If compilation fails fix problem then go back to step 13. Test add-on to make sure it works on a range of different firmwares including testing to check that upgrades work smoothly.4. If there's a problem found testing the add-on, fix the bug and go back to step 1 againThis is a time consuming process particularly for the slower devices (Sparc and to a lesser extent ARM) as compilation, testing etc. takes more time, not only because of the slower processors than x86 but also because of the work involved to get things to run properly. Add-ons depend on a range of other software which may be newer or older than what ships on the ReadyNAS so patching it to work on the ReadyNAS can be quite a bit of work.You also need to note that the user base for running say Transmission on the ReadyNAS is going to be a lot lower than the userbase of Transmission overall. With the donation ratio being so poor it's not unreasonable for developers to sell their add-ons for a small fee. Without the fee there probably wouldn't be anywhere near as many add-ons available.I should also note that plenty of people charge for works derived from software licensed under the GPL or other similar licenses. So long as it's clear (which it is) that they're using software licensed under the GPL or similar licenses it's fine.Do note that on ARM, Genie Apps is the way things are going.

Thank you for taking the plunge and addressing my questions. I might sound a like a troll here, please trust me when I say I'm not; just trying to find out how I can make my new NAS provide the same things my 4+ years MSS offered, without an extra fee.The majority of GPL development is for free. Although not illegal or unethical, I find that porting GPL apps for a fee is not of my taste, considering the huge development effort made by the, say, rtorrent maker, especially after receiving upstream bug reports for all rtorrent-running platforms out there. GPL itself was made to discourage selling derivative works, by including clauses to propagate the same terms to derivations of the derivatives...As for the small size of the userbase here: a lot of other platforms are not that much larger, yet they have a large port/package selection for every purpose. I'd better continue discussion on the other thread though, better stop hijacking the thread here :)

Well so far at least there's only been two prolific developers WhoCares? and super-poussin. Without them there'd be little in the way of community add-ons available. A lot of that open source stuff is designed to be installed on say a ubuntu system not a heavily customised Debian system like the ReadyNAS. With community add-ons typically being the work of one developer it's a lot of work.Now both of the developers have produced add-ons with the option to donate in the past. Unfortunately due to low donation ratios, a small fee needs to be charged. Even so, the devs are giving away a lot of their time.It's perfectly fine for add-on installers to be sold and both the prolific developers do make it clear that the original source for the software was developed by a third party and that GPL (or similarly licensed) code is used.If you think you can justify the time and expense to develop some add-ons making them available for free then go for it. Sadly most developers have only developed a few add-ons and come and gone.

Transmission ARM no longer free? | NETGEAR Communities

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mdgm-ntgr

NETGEAR Employee Retired

Oct 12, 2012

cosmos wrote:
I read the first link but I there's a couple of issues here: First, this seems to be for v1 NAS boxes and not for v2s.

cosmos wrote:
I read the first link but I there's a couple of issues here: First, this seems to be for v1 NAS boxes and not for v2s.

While the guide is for the v1 the actual SDK will work with Sparc, x86 and ARM. Though with Genie Apps now here NTGR is pushing the of use of that network which has its own SDK.

cosmos wrote:

Furthermore, and if I understand correctly, this is about creating a frontview-interacting app. What about actually creating the core app, the executable that is? Only through cross-compiling?

cosmos wrote:
Furthermore, and if I understand correctly, this is about creating a frontview-interacting app. What about actually creating the core app, the executable that is? Only through cross-compiling?

It's easiest to develop directly on a ReadyNAS./

devilsrear
Aspirant
Oct 13, 2012
Hi I've purchased the new version of Transmission. I suppose the only gripe I would have is to pay for each new release. You buy an app in the playstore for your phone and then get updates on it.

I am hoping that now that I've purchased version 2.71 of Transmission - that I would be entitled to upgrades.

I certainly don't want to be in a position of running 10 or so addons then havingg to purchase an upgrade each time a later version is released with bug fixes.

I would be happy if the cover was say a 12 month period - so you pay for the addon and all upgrades within this period.

Can someone confirm how it currently stands.
mdgm-ntgr
NETGEAR Employee Retired
Oct 13, 2012
I'm not sure how the apps in the Genie App store will work In this regard but if you purchase an add-on from http://www.readynasxtras.com you would have to pay for each update. Now the problem with say a 12-month period of coverage is that the number of updates for different apps might vary wildly which again users wouldn't like. Some apps might not need an update for 6 months while others might need monthly or even more frequent updates.

Also something I forgot to mention (I think) is that you have to note that a number of add-ons at ReadyNASXtras.com install software with built-in update features that work. You only have to pay for updates if you need to get a new add-on installer.

I'm running Dropbox (only available for x86) and that hasn't need any updates to the add-on installer for quite some time now.

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Transmission ARM no longer free?

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