[PLUG] Tracking down missing OS code author

[Keith Lofstrom]

This may be OT, but it relates to open source.  What happens to an
OS program when the author/website can no longer be found?

Many of you have seen my presentation on Dirvish for disk-to-disk
backups.  I had quite a correspondence going with Dirvish author
J.W. Schultz, with the last email from him dated March 1.  I received
no emails after March 1, which I chalked up to either busyness,
offendedness, lack of social skills, or "other" (after 50 years,
people still surprise me a lot, programmers especially).  In all
that email, I never learned his first name or what city he lives in.

Well, last night I learned that the Dirvish website
(http//www.pegasys.ws/dirvish) is no longer responding (it was up
a couple of months ago).   This led me to check with some of his
other correspondents, look for postings to the RSYNC mailing list,
Kernel mailing list, etc.  Apparently he dropped of the radar just
after March 1.

I know JW is older than I am, having discussed big-iron/punch-card
machines in his email (yes, I've used punch cards and paper tape).  
Further sleuthing revealed that his pegasys.ws website is registered
as a "dot website", and the .ws domain registrar (western samoa ?!)
does not reveal names, email addresses, etc.  The IP address is within
the xo.com subnet around the Bay area (thank you traceroute);  no news
articles or obituaroes for "Schultz", though.  Not that you are
required to reveal your real name on the internet.  There are, or
course, a zillion companies with Pegasys and Technologies in their
names.  There are also about 150 J. Schultzes listed in the Bay
area; and given his privacy habits, he may well be unlisted.

Can anyone suggest other means for finding a software guy?  Social
engineering techniques to apply to xo.com, the .ws registrar, SUSE
(his distro of choice), etc?  

If he is not findable, at what point do I set up a Dirvish website
of my own and start supporting it?  What is the etiquette here?

And for the rest of you O.S. authors, what are you doing about
continuity after you are unexpectedly called to a meeting with 
the Great Penguin In The Sky?

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom           keithl at ieee.org         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs