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Andrew D Kirch posted on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:14:56 -0400 as excerpted: |
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|
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> Dmitry Grigoriev wrote: |
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>> http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=282491 |
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>> |
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>> The idea is that package tree physical structure must correspond to |
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>> logical structure. E.g. package kde/games/tactics-and-strategy/knetwalk |
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>> instead of kde-base/knetwalk, and kde/games/all instead of manually |
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>> managed meta-package or set @kde-games (kde/all == @kde, |
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>> kde/games/arcade/all == @kde-games-arcade, ...). |
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>> |
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> I don't see a problem with this per-se other than that the massive |
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> amount of re-organization which would be required, which could otherwise |
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> be spent on fixing bugs, adding enhancements, and other cool stuff. I |
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> think the price is too high in the manpower catagory. |
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|
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General observation: In the FLOSS community it is often said (correctly) |
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that for something to be done, it normally must scratch an itch that |
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someone with the skills to do it has, an itch bad enough to motivate the |
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dedication of the necessary time and intellectual energy. |
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|
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It's thus that there are all sorts of otherwise impractical little |
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projects going on, some to eventual usability, some to eventual full |
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maturity, some dying on the vine, as it were. It's the incredible |
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broadness of the community, and thus the incredible broadness of |
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selection of all those little projects, that continues to drive FLOSS, |
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generally far more broadly and effectively than it could ever be driven |
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in an unshared or charge-to-share primarily cost/payment driven |
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proprietary system. |
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|
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You see this put to great effect in the firefox extensions setup. |
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There's dozens of browser choices, but really only one with the |
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extensibility of firefox, an extensibility that many users quickly find |
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indispensable, thus making firefox itself indispensable for those users. |
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|
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The same applies to some Gentoo projects. Realistically, how many of |
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those exotic archs we support, if only in -prefix or experimental form, |
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would even exist at all, if they had to be cost and time justified? But |
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they are someone's hobby, Gentoo is a volunteer organization, and those |
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devs have volunteered to make their hobby yet another Gentoo project. |
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|
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Thus we get to the point. I agree that it's not particularly practical |
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to think about how the Gentoo tree might be better organized if we were |
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to do it today. However, if someone with the skills and the drive to |
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make it so can be found, that either has that itch bad enough, or can be |
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/given/ that itch bad enough, to actually /make/ it so, well then, it's |
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likely to happen. Otherwise, no, it's not, as however nice it might be |
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in theory, there's always higher priority more effective ways for those |
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with the skills and the access to make it happen, to spend their time. |
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|
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Thus, the OP's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to either |
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develop the skills and become a Gentoo developer himself, thus giving |
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himself access to do it, or to effectively enough spread that itch to |
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someone who has the skills and the access, thus giving them the |
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motivation necessary as well. |
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|
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Otherwise, I agree, it's simply very unlikely to ever happen, because the |
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solution we have now is "good enough" and the cost of changing it and |
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taking care of all those loose ends to make it work is high enough, that |
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there are always better ways to spend that time and energy. |
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|
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |