I have to agree with Village Idiot on this, the project has not made any progress nor indeed will it if nothing is done about it. The project leader needs to LEAD.
HE/SHE should be the one that should take in everyone's input and opinions. Then HE/SHE should decide (using other peoples input and opinions to make the decision) or the very least instigate a show of hands on coding standards, CVS/SVN, project management tools etc.
Taking coding styles as an example if I may: We all know everyone has a difference in opinion about coding styles and yes these opinions need to be voiced (and they have, repeatedly) but as long a these different opinions exist, people wont agree and nothing will be passed as a coding standards document that can be followed, its the LEADER's job to find a standard that everyone can at least agree to use. In light of this new found
definition to the term 'leader' the person (in my opinion) should be an experienced developer.
When at work, my manager started a discussion about our coding standards, we all had our say BUT it was she that had the final word and made it official, otherwise we would have been still sitting in the office exchanging opinions 10 months on! and you know what? it worked.
Project Leader isn't a shiny name badge, he/she should do as the name suggests and LEAD, or at the very least compile a first draft of a standards document that people can vote on and as far as i can see this has not even come close to being achieved.
I am not having a jibe at anyone, I'm just saying the things I believe need to be said in order for this project to begin properly. If Codefreak (who started off enthusiastically) isn't prepared to take on the full responsibility for guiding others then he should be replaced and that's no disrespect to the guy. There has been countless documents posted and plans drawn up but not one has had any kind of decision made about it or even a show of hands.
If you disagree, than that's your opinion (there's that word again), but someone needs to take the helm even if my understanding of the project leader's job is incorrect or i have missed something.
Something else i don't understand, why are we not using one of the COUNTLESS free project hosting facilities (bug tracking and SVN built in etc) and insisting on somebody to take the time and the expense of buying and installing something we can get for free?
Comparison of open source software hosting facilities - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Right back to redSHIFT's question:
I am ok with the idea, most of the hard work will have been done but as you say it would complicate things slightly for less experienced people.