Re: [gentoo-dev] Getting the general dev opinion ("Meinungsbild") on some feature

[Andreas K. Huettel]

Am Sonntag, 20. Januar 2013, 10:39:58 schrieb Rich Freeman:
>
> What's the point?  I don't think democracy is the best way to handle
> these sorts of things.

LOL. Yeah, but haven't we tried to give ourselves rules that at least resemble 
it?

If I wanted to find out expert opinions and act on that, I'd directly ask a 
couple of people on IRC that I consider knowledgeable, and then directly 
follow their advice. No mailing list need be involved. This would be 
effective, most likely technologically correct, and fast. It would also cause 
major $hitstorms, since every developer knows best about a lot of things, and 
since a lot of people would understandably feel bypassed. I would lose commit 
privileges quite fast.

On the other hand, if I want to do the ultimate "right thing" in a community 
sense, I ask on the list and let the discussion develop. I get a lot of 
opinions. Some of these I consider more, some less sensible; some of these are 
better, some less well informed. On most issues, even well-informed people 
will have different opinions - sometimes things are just a matter of personal 
taste. Getting a real unanimous vote is impossible. I wait for everyone to 
read his mail; we've already heard that 72h is by far not enough time. (Half a 
year?) In the meantime the discussion has branched into a couple of topics, 
and most people have forgotten the original issue... Action may be taken on 
the day when debian stable has a newer glibc than gentoo (metaphorically 
speaking).

We will in the end need a compromise that both gets things done and involves 
everyone that actively wants to be involved. (And yes, that means reading your 
mail!)

-- 
Andreas K. Huettel
Gentoo Linux developer 
dilfridge@g.o
http://www.akhuettel.de/