Z-Push has a new home and a new maintainer

We are very pleased to announce that Z-Push has found a new home and is now maintained by community member Mat Wilson.

Following our latest statement regarding the community project Z-Push and our call to the community, Mat picked up and showed strong interest in becoming the maintainer of the official code repository for Z-Push.

Based on a previous fork by another community member and some help of others, he already had a working PHP 8 port published – not a bad way to make an introduction. Being an open person and easy to communicate with (qualities not be underestimated), Mat seamed to be more than just a candidate.

Of course, it will take some time to settle in the new role and get everything going, but we are quite confident that Mat is up to the task. We wish Mat and the community all the best and are very happy that Z-Push will continue serving many users in the future!

Z-Push resources, now maintained by Mat:

The official website has moved to: https://z-push.github.io

The official code repository: https://github.com/Z-Hub/Z-Push

Mat’s own code repository: https://github.com/matidau/Z-Push

What does a typical maintainer do and how does this reflect Mat’s engagement?

A maintainer works closely with developers, reviews, tests and merges code provided by them. That said – being a maintainer does not mean being a developer in the first place. Although code contributions are not uncommon for maintainers.

In the current case, Mat has a bit more authority by being able to also determine the contents of the official resources, like releases and the website’s contents. Once being recognized in his new role, more communication and coordination are likely to join the mix. Such tasks would be more consistent with those of a typical project lead.

Is Mat a Kopano employee now?

No, Mat is not on the payroll of Kopano. Mat is and will remain a volunteer of the Z-Push community, who invests his own free time into the project. This is to be appreciated and respected at the same time.

Does this have any impact on the future of Z-Push at Kopano?

No, it does not. As stated before, Kopano has decided to rely on different technology for it’s future products.

Will Mat’s work have an impact on the current version in use with Kopano Groupware?

This is not likely, but not out of the question either. If the community (esp. it’s developers) decides to improve a PHP 7.4 based version with patches, backports aso. this could also benefit users of Kopano Groupware.

But Kopano as a company will neither force nor influence Mat or any other community members to do so. In our current observation it’s more likely that Z-Push will develop a dynamic of it’s own, based on work which has already been done regarding PHP 8.

It’s entirely up to the community to determine the future of Z-Push – and with engaging community members like Mat it is likely going to be a bright one!