[Linux-aus] [Grant Application] Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network

Tue May 16 11:03:12 AEST 2017

Hooray! Thanks everyone! ♥

In other news after the week of OSCON I've managed to re-establish
communications with AWS, so I'm hoping we'll not need the full year of
funding if all goes well. :)

Many thanks again!

~ Paul

On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 3:30 AM Linux Australia President <
president at linux.org.au> wrote:

> Council is delighted to announce that this grant has been approved to the
> value of $AUD 800.
>
> Council took into account feedback from the community, the strong usage of
> Kerbal and CKAN, and the entre that CKAN provides to budding open source
> developers.
>
> Council would appreciate a report at the end of the year detailing how the
> infrastructure has been used.
>
> NEXT ACTION: Paul to work with Kathy to arrange financials.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Kathy
>
> On 24/04/17 03:17, Paul Fenwick wrote:
>
> G’day Linux Australia council and members,
>
> In August 2014 I founded the Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network (
> KSP-CKAN <https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN>), a modifications (mod)
> manager for the popular Kerbal Space Program game by Squad. Inspired by the
> Debian packaging system, my goal was to create a system that would allow
> players to easily install mods and keep them up-to-date, supported by rich
> metadata so players could be assured they were getting the right packages
> for their system, including dependency management and upgrade paths.
>
> My not so secret mission was to inspire a new generation to be excited
> about space exploration and research.
>
> By creating a cross-platform (Mac/Linux/Windows), open-source (MIT) client
> and associated metadata (CC-0), the project has been a resounding success.
> We’ve attracted over 300 contributors, brought delight to well over 120,000
> users, indexed thousands of mods, and measure our success in decades of
> human joy delivered per month.
>
> Most of the mods we index are also free and open source, and we handle the
> automatic preservation of these in conjunction with the Internet Archive.
> The KSP-CKAN is especially important for people using Kerbal Space Program
> for planning and simulating real space travel, using the Realism Overhaul
> stack. This provides an exact simulation of the solar system, authentic
> hardware, and faithfully modelled aerodynamics. We’ve had NASA employees
> personally devote their time to improving both the KSP-CKAN and associated
> systems.
>
> As we do not track our users, it’s hard to *directly* measure our project
> success in terms of mods delivered, but we can use the number of client
> downloads and user contributions as a proxy. Since early 2016 we’ve
> routinely had over 100,000 downloads with each significant release, and
> over the last month <https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/NetKAN/pulse/monthly>
> we’ve had dozens of contributors working on our metadata and code.
>
> For the last two years, AWS have been kind enough to sponsor our compute
> costs, which are primarily used for the automated indexing of mods.
> However, that sponsorship has recently expired, and due to a change in
> contacts at AWS we’ve been unsuccessful at getting it reviewed.
>
> While I’ve stepped down as mission director, I’m still the legal entity
> responsible for hosting costs, and I'm very much supportive of the project
> and its goals. We're extremely fortunate to have Leon Wright as our prime
> infrastructure person. Leon is active in PLUG and the Perth open source
> community, has been instrumental in handling the video processing
> <http://www.techman83.me/programming/2014/01/20/eventstreamr.html> of
> past LCAs, and has kept our systems running for years.
>
> Our expenses are very modest; about $30 USD/month covers all our hosting
> and compute costs. Because the amount is so small, we’re hoping to have
> them covered by a single sponsor rather than via crowd-funding, as this
> keeps our administrative overheads to a minimum.
>
> To help us while we find another infrastructure sponsor, I’d like to apply
> for a Linux Australia grant to secure the KSP-CKAN’s hosting for another
> year. If at all possible, I would like to request the grant be paid in
> arrears (after the costs have been incurrred), and only for the actual
> costs of hosting. This both reduces our administrative work, and means
> we're not asking LA for more funding than we genuinely need.
>
> If we find an infrastructure sponsor before the end of the grant period,
> then we’ll only be asking for funding up until the changeover date. Of
> course, we welcome any LA member or organisation that wishes to cover our
> entire infrastructure costs for a year or more, but we'll cast our net more
> widely if need be.
>
> For this grant application, I’d like to request a maximum of $600 USD
> ($800 AUD) over the twelve months ending 30th April 2018 to help with our
> infrastructure. This is more than our projected expenses ($360 USD / $500
> AUD) simply so we have some breathing space.
>
> As mentioned, we’ll only be seeking reimbursement for costs actually
> incurred.
>
> Many thanks again for your consideration, and I look forward to answering
> any questions you may have.
>
> Paul Fenwick
> Founder, Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network
> 
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> linux-aus mailing listlinux-aus at lists.linux.org.auhttp://lists.linux.org.au/mailman/listinfo/linux-aus
>
>
>
> --
> Kathy Reid
> President
> Linux Australia
> 0418 130 636
> president at linux.org.auhttp://linux.org.au
>
> Linux Australia Inc
> GPO Box 4788
> Sydney NSW 2001
> Australia
>
> ABN 56 987 117 479
>
>
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