<div dir="ltr"><div class="markdown-here-wrapper" style=""><p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">G’day Linux Australia council and members,</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">In August 2014 I founded the Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network (<a href="https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/CKAN">KSP-CKAN</a>), 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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">My not so secret mission was to inspire a new generation to be excited about space exploration and research.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">As we do not track our users, it’s hard to <em>directly</em> 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 <a href="https://github.com/KSP-CKAN/NetKAN/pulse/monthly">last month</a> we’ve had dozens of contributors working on our metadata and code.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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 <a href="http://www.techman83.me/programming/2014/01/20/eventstreamr.html">handling the video processing</a> of past LCAs, and has kept our systems running for years.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.<br></p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">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.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">As mentioned, we’ll only be seeking reimbursement for costs actually incurred.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">Many thanks again for your consideration, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have.</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 1.2em!important">Paul Fenwick<br>Founder, Comprehensive Kerbal Archive Network</p>
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