OSCR - Open Source CPAP Reviewer

[Gideon]

There is a group of developers from the Apnea Community, comprised of some of the same individuals that have contributed to previous versions of Sleepyhead and some that have not, including individuals from multiple forums and multiple nationalities,  working on developing a fork of Sleepyhead 1.1.0.   Mark is the author of Sleepyhead which is the foundation of this Fork and as such we will be forever grateful. This fork occurred because the developer of Sleepyhead, Mark Watkins, has issued a statement that the Sleepyhead project is closed.  We are currently vetting the new name, OSCR pronounced Oscar, for Open Source CPAP Reviewer  (we cannot use Sleepyhead).  We are still looking for developers to help us.  The "Apnea Software Talk" is a think tank for collaborating on the next generation of the CPAP analysis and reporting software. To be clear, this is not an Apnea Board Project.

In addition to this effort Apnea Board will continue to Serve Sleepyhead v 1.0.0 and 1.1.0 on its open File Server https://www.apneaboard.com/sleepyhead/

Fred

[harre]

Please contact me if you are genuinely willing and able to carry on this work as the new project maintainer,
I will post a notice passing the official project torch here if someone capable and honourable is willing to step up to keep the SleepyHead project alive.

from: https://sleepy head.jedi mark.net/


I find it ironic that he has now rage quit the project as he thought he was loosing control over it and now he wants to hand over to someone else. It's perhaps a sore wound still but isn't it best for the community that the "Oscr-guys" take over the project if he's genuinely have thrown in the towel.
I have seen this numerous times that the original author of a popular program is getting overloaded with work and have no time to work on the project anymore and other contributors have  grown tired of the status quo. One particular project comes into mind. The popular de-duplication software known as attic but after fork was called borg in honour of the original creator.

https://github.com/jborg/attic/issues/217

[CB91710]

Oscar is a good name, particularly given we get a bit grouchy when our therapy isn't up to snuff.
Nobody likes "SnoozyNoggin"?

[SleepyGeorge]

This is my first time writing in this forum although I did read a lot especially when I started my therapy. Because of this forum I made a good machine selection, learned to monitor and control my therapy with SleepyHead and selected a mask. I feel grateful to the people behind the forum, the users and Mark for writing the software. 

I was informed for all this sadness with SleepyHead from the facebook group. Many strong words and accusations have been exchanged especially between people that gave so much unconditionally to all of us out there. Neither side deserves them.

I feel that not every effort has been made from either side to fix things up. I also think that this fork at this time that the dust hasn't settled would create a permanent rift. Mark feels saddened and sidelined and if he needs help it could probably make matters worse for him.

[Fats Drywaller]

I've read Mark's resignation letter on his web site.  I do feel bad for him.  What a bummer it must be, to be in that situation.  However, he did publish the Sleepyhead source code under the GPL, and we have to assume that he knew what he was doing and what some of the consequences might eventually be ... which is to say, forking.

It's just a fact of digital life, and he needs to get used to it, even though that's unpleasant for him.  Long ago he very generously chose to publish the source code and to GPL it, and now he has found that the software is so good and useful that many people Out There have become dependent on it and don't want to wait for a single-threaded maintenance organization (jedimark) to continue to develop it eventually, on some long-drawn-out schedule, maybe, if they're lucky.  They'd rather improve it themselves, sooner than he is able to because of his circumstances.  That's one thing, among many, that open-source software is all about.  <shrug>  And so it goes.

Here's a relevant section from the GPL FAQ at: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html...edVersions

Why does the GPL permit users to publish their modified versions?

A crucial aspect of free software is that users are free to cooperate.  It is absolutely essential to permit users who wish to help each other to share their bug fixes and improvements with other users.

Some have proposed alternatives to the GPL that require modified versions to go through the original author.  As long as the original author keeps up with the need for maintenance, this may work well in practice, but if the author stops (more or less) to do something else or does not attend to all the users' needs, this scheme falls down.  Aside from the practical problems, this scheme does not allow users to help each other.

Sometimes control over modified versions is proposed as a means of preventing confusion between various versions made by users.  In our experience, this confusion is not a major problem.  Many versions of Emacs have been made outside the GNU Project, but users can tell them apart.  The GPL requires the maker of a version to place his or her name on it, to distinguish it from other versions and to protect the reputations of other maintainers.

The dogs bark, and the caravan moves on.

[SuperSleeper]

I feel that not every effort has been made from either side to fix things up. I also think that this fork at this time that the dust hasn't settled would create a permanent rift. Mark feels saddened and sidelined and if he needs help it could probably make matters worse for him.

Welcome to the forum, George.

The unfortunate truth is that every effort has been made to try to "fix things up" as you put it.  There is already a "permanent rift".  This is not simply a recent event or issue - it's been an ongoing conflict stretching over several years between Mark and those who were working very closely with him to bring SleepyHead to fruition.  SleepyHead was never a "one-man show", but rather an open-source project of cooperative efforts between many, many people from around the world who worked together to make the software package what it is today.  Yes, Mark was the main developer and he received any and all donations as a result of all the work (and he was well-deserving of those donations) - and in case anyone is wondering-- all the various people who put in countless hours and a ton of personal effort to help the SleepyHead project received absolutely nothing in monetary remuneration;  they contributed their time, talent and money without expecting one dime in return.

Those selfless team members have been trying for years to work around Mark's paranoid behavior.  Time and time again they tried their best to overlook very, very bad behavior.  But Mark slowly, over time, alienated each and every co-laborer who had helped him produce SleepyHead over the years, and finally this month, he himself put the final nail in the project's own coffin by throwing out almost every fellow coder, beta-tester and other helpers in a final rage of over-the-top paranoia, accusing nearly everyone who ever helped with the project of trying to conspire against him.  These "everyone is out to get me" out-of-control false accusations and threats is what destroyed any future for the SleepyHead project.  It wasn't this forum or any other forum or anyone on Mark's team that made this happen-- it was due to one person and one person only-- Mark Watkins, who killed his own project all by himself.

SleepyHead is dead (as far as any future work on that project)  Even if Mark would try to bring it back to life, he's got no one left willing to help him, other than perhaps one or two "yes men" who still hang around him in hopes of hitching their wagon to a star.  Unfortunately, that star has fallen, and just about everyone who ever helped Mark in the past is completely distraught and greatly saddened by what Mark has done to both himself, and to what I think is his life's most important work - the software known as "SleepyHead".

At this point in time, just about everyone who was on Mark's official "team" has realized these facts and have decided to move on from this point.  It is not "too early" to begin regrouping.  There are too many sleep apnea patients out there who will NEED a good, solid software package to monitor and analyze their CPAP data going forward,  New machines are coming all the time.  The project cannot simply come to a grinding halt. There are literally too many lives at stake.  And I mean exactly that-- if we can't help sleep apnea patients, it will negatively affect their health and a lack of proper sleep apnea treatment could contribute greatly to them dying an early death.  So THAT is why this is an important thing.  Let me re-assert that fact:  LIVES are at stake here.

So given those facts, the folks that helped Mark in the past cannot simply sit on their hands and do nothing yet again, after doing so time and time and time again, hoping against hope that Mark would come to his senses.  They have decided, as a group, to move on, and do it starting now, apart from Mark Watkins.

This is why the Apnea Software Talk group (AST) has now formed, and that group of dedicated, talented people will try their best to pick up the pieces and create what I believe will be the best possible software package in the world for sleep apnea patients.

I encourage all in the sleep apnea community to leave behind all the negativity and focus on a positive future-- and that future, unfortunately, does not include Mark Watkins at this time, due to his own actions.  He has decided that himself by shutting down the SleepyHead project and basically telling all of his former team members to go to hell.  Everyone has tried (as you suggested) many, many times to prevent him from "feeling saddened" or "being side-lined", but Mark has refused to respond at all to those who have only tried to help him and the SleepyHead project.

As to the future? Well, as far as I'm concerned (and many other folks who know the true history of what has transpired over the years),  the future includes the developers, beta-testers and others who only wish to make a positive difference in the world and help sleep apnea patients.

I wish these things would have never occurred.  But they have, and folks have decided that they must accept the hand that was dealt to them by Mark Watkins and continue to work on a new project to take the place of SleepyHead.

I have told this group that Apnea Board will do within our power to support development efforts in any way we can.

I suggest that we all do the same, because that will be the best for sleep apnea patients around the world.

Thanks for listening.  

[Fats Drywaller]

In the department of "If you think that's bad, listen to this ..."

Y'all can be glad that Sleepyhead is open-source and GPLed so that you are able to create and maintain OSCR.  That's majorly excellent for all concerned except the bummed-out jedimark.  Imagine what things would be like if it weren't open-source, if only one person had ever had the source code and had always refused to publish it, and then that one poor guy started having mental problems & persecution fantasies & stuff.

It has happened more than once, and I'm all too familiar with one case, being a fan of and a user of the software in question.  I'd rather not say what it is, but it's a large and complex shareware program, best in its class.  Unfortunately, a number of years ago the author of the program started acting more and more strange about his creation and started getting as possessive as Gollum, along with being obsessed about piracy of his Precious.  Some people Out There in netland were using his software with pirated or keygenned serial numbers rather than paying the shareware fee (which was a reasonable amount, $25, but to some people who like to be pirates, it's not the money; it's the principle of the thing).

So instead of approaching that situation in a rational & mature way and shrugging it off ("Kids will be kids" and so on), the author got more and more obsessed with this nonsense, became mentally unstable, and gradually, over a number of years while he continued the software development, locked down all access to the distributions of his software, in addition to changing the license-key scheme a few times ("security by obscurity").  He wanted prospective new users of the program not only to pay the shareware fee via Paypal or whatever, but also to e-mail him personally and sign an oath in blood that the new customer would use the software only for good, never for evil, and would never re-distribute either it (binary only) or the license key in any way.  Sort of like a mickey-mouse "Certificate of Authenticity", but you couldn't just buy it; you had to jump through a lot of hoops and beg and plead: "Please, O Exalted One, do me the great favor of accepting my shareware payment!"  What a load of childish nonsense.

What that author did, effectively if not knowingly, was to make it almost impossible for anyone to get new versions of his software, which was still best-in-class, grade A+, despite always being closed-source.  Very bad for business!  So his shareware income slowed to a trickle, of course.  Eventually the mental instability got so bad that the poor guy dropped out of all Innertubes participation, stopped publishing, presumably stopped programming, shut down his web site, and ignored or filtered out all e-mail regarding his software.  That's where the situation has stayed for years, and for all anyone in the general netland population knows, the author may or may not still be alive, and if he is alive he may or may not be sane. And he still has the only copy of the source code.

Bizarre.  And sad.  The excellent software product in question is still being used and still exists in several versions, all closed-source, all 32-bit binaries, obviously with not much future to 'em.

So count your blessings.

[Sleeprider]

A software is open source, or it is not. In the case of Sleepyhead, the last version was developed as a collaboration with many talented individuals involved. After it was completed, Mark declared it fatally flawed and in isolation worked on version 2.0. No one knows if it even exists because it was a singular effort and was never shared. It's possible, the OSCR fork will release and Mark will reveal his Sleepyhead 2.0. It is important to remember Mark's brilliance in developing Sleepyhead had relevance because of inputs from a large project team that provided data and provided input of what sleep apnea users, researchers, therapists and doctors needed to see in that data to make it meaningful. It is interesting that even the manufacturers of these machines do not produce a software that reveals the breath by breath detail and visual correlation of patient events to machine response that is available in Sleepyhead. One of the biggest hopes for the future of this software is that the manufacturers themselves start to support it as a platform independent tool for research and analysis.

[Fats Drywaller]

 One of the biggest hopes for the future of this software is that the manufacturers themselves start to support it as a platform independent tool for research and analysis.

That'd be great, just as long as Resmed doesn't name it Airhead ...

[A KLERK]

And still I wonder why that version 1.1.0, published by Mark himself, was called "fatally flawed". During all this commotion this was never revealed. Being part of the group, I could work with that package since June 2018 and NEVER had any problem other than that some of my settings were reverted by time and time. When I shifted the pressure graph down because that does not change in a cpap, some time later it was on its default place again. Nothing worse...
But we will find out (or not) when we really go at work on that "fatally flawed" version. You will see soon!