Introduction to the EthPM Foundation
This post will be part one in a multi-part series explaining our vision for package management for the Ethereum ecosystem. In this post we’ll introduce the EthPM Foundation and why we think this organization is necessary.
What is EthPM.com
For those who don’t know, EthPM.com is a project aimed at bringing package management to the Ethereum ecosystem.
The Ethereum community is about to come out of the dark ages of smart contract development. Until now code re-use involved copy/pasting smart contract source code from project to project. We’ve been unable to take advantage of some of the most powerful properties of the EVM, specifically the ability to have common shared libraries that are deployed once and used by all. We don’t even have a standard library.
All of this is about to change.
Why a Foundation?
I’m sure many of you remember March 22nd of 2016 when much of the internet fell over because left-pad and many other libraries were abruptly removed from the NPM package registry.
We believe that a package registry like EthPM should be a public good in much the same manner as roads, libraries and parks. A package registry that is owned and operated by a for-profit entity will inevitably succumb to the requirements of maximizing shareholder returns. We have yet to determine the exact legal structure for the foundation, so while it may not be a 501c3 non profit, it will not be a for-profit entity.
We want to be sure that every decision that comes out of the foundation is solely motivated by what is best for the Ethereum ecosystem and the smart contract development community which uses it.
Mission and Vision
Our vision for the EthPM Foundation involves bringing together many stakeholders from the Ethereum smart contract development community to act as the stewards of the EthPM.com registry. The Foundation will have two primary responsibilities:
- Ensure that the registry remains an open and fair platform.
- Perform continued maintenance and development.
The package registry is a collaborative resource that benefits everyone. We want to ensure that as it grows and matures it remains this way: a level playing field that doesn’t allow a privileged few to unfairly benefit from the work of others.
In addition, the Foundation will be charged with steering the ongoing development and evolution of the platform. For instance, the ERC190 specification will need updates and revisions. The infrastructure which runs EthPM.com will need tending. We want to build a sustainable organization to secure the future of package management for Ethereum.
Who will be involved?
We are in the process of reaching out to those that were involved in creating the ERC190 smart contract packaging specification. This includes:
- Denis Erfurt from the Dapple team.
- Piper Merriam (me) from Populus.
- Tim Coulter from Truffle
- Iuri Matias from Embark
We want to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders with an established history demonstrating their commitment to open source.
In our next post Tim Coulter will be going deeper into why we need package management and how package management presents some unique challenges within the Ethereum development ecosystem.
