# Forking of unmaintained package: Snappy.jl

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431>\
**Category:** Community\
**Created:** [March 5, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431 "2022-03-05T00:27:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 12:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/1 "2022-03-05T00:27:07Z")

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The maintainer of [Snappy.jl](https://github.com/bicycle1885/Snappy.jl) (a wrapper of a C lib for a compression format) seems to be MIA. The package should require very little maintenance as it is a very simple wrapper, however the current version [does not use binary builder](https://github.com/bicycle1885/Snappy.jl/pull/25) and this has been causing problems. There is already [one package](https://juliahub.com/ui/Packages/Mongoc/JGtnr/0.7.1?page=0) which seems to have bypassed it and used `Snappy_jll` directly… I’m not sure how direct a dependency in that case but it’s unfortunate for people to have to resort to that.

Anyway, at this point I think it’s about time to give up on the original maintainer and create and register a fork `Snappy2.jl`.

I’ve opened this thread to give people an opportunity to object or otherwise comment. I’d also prefer to get this into the JuliaIO github organization to increase the truck factor, so if you have permissions in that organization and would like either for me to create the repo and transfer it to you or to invite me, please comment here or contact me directly.

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 12:55am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/2 "2022-03-05T00:55:21Z")

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This is a situation similar to [https://github.com/JuliaRegistries/General/issues/25367](https://github.com/JuliaRegistries/General/issues/25367), which was eventually solved by moving the repository to an organisation. I’d argue against forking packages if possible.

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**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/3 "2022-03-05T18:51:43Z")

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Forking of course does not seem ideal to me either, but it seems better than letting it languish in this state for all eternity. If you think it would be worth opening an issue in the registry to override the existing registration for the `Snappy.jl` name, I will do so, but if we are going that route I’d feel better about it if we could get it in JuliaIO or another github org.

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**Author:** ![logankilpatrick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/logankilpatrick/32/38123_2.png) [@logankilpatrick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/logankilpatrick)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/4 "2022-03-06T17:50:08Z")

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I just pinged the author via email. What GitHub org would this fall best under?

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**Author:** ![giordano](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/giordano/32/2166_2.png) [@giordano](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/giordano)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/5 "2022-03-06T17:55:16Z")

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JuliaIO perhaps, he’s already a member there. But we have this problem with basically all of his packages. It’s totally understandable he doesn’t have the time anymore to maintain them, but the solution is well known and this keeps happening every now and then.

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**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/6 "2022-03-06T17:56:48Z")

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Yeah, I think JuliaIO, all the other compression codecs are there.

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**Author:** ![liamlundy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/liamlundy/32/34909_2.png) [@liamlundy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/liamlundy)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/7 "2022-03-25T15:39:30Z")

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Any update on this? It would be really great to be able to utilize the snappy\_jll when installing Snappy.jl since right now I have go jump through some really hacky hoops to get it working in a container.

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**Author:** ![ExpandingMan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/expandingman/32/866_2.png) [@ExpandingMan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/ExpandingMan)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/8 "2022-03-28T18:18:58Z")

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Snappy.jl is still seemingly dead. I’ll poke my head out on slack and see if anyone wants to deprecate it from general, otherwise, I’ll fork it as Snappy2.jl.

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**Author:** ![logankilpatrick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/logankilpatrick/32/38123_2.png) [@logankilpatrick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/logankilpatrick)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 1:16am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/9 "2022-03-29T01:16:46Z")

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I followed up once again, let’s give it until the end of the week, and then I agree that it makes sense to fork and re-name.

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**Author:** ![logankilpatrick](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/logankilpatrick/32/38123_2.png) [@logankilpatrick](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/logankilpatrick)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2022, 3:16am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/forking-of-unmaintained-package-snappy-jl/77431/10 "2022-03-29T03:16:19Z")

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Snappy.jl has now been moved over to JuliaIO: [https://github.com/JuliaIO/Snappy.jl](https://github.com/JuliaIO/Snappy.jl)