Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 17:12:08 -0700 From: Josh MacDonald <jmacd@CS.Berkeley.EDU> To: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: version of makeinfo in -current Message-ID: <199605140012.RAA22477@paris.CS.Berkeley.EDU> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 13 May 1996 21:25:22 %2B0930." <199605131155.VAA19647@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
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> Josh MacDonald stands accused of saying: > > > > This seems to be a recurring thing for me to mail the lists, I'm > > using FreeBSD as a development machine, and every piece of GNU software > > I use I have to install from the current release, its kind of annoying. > > Lots of us use FreeBSD as development systems. Not many are using c++, from what I can tell. > Lots of us have large investments in code that works correctly with the > toolchain as it is. Including the system itself. > > If all we did was follow the often senseless faddism that seems to > permeate the GNU world, all our time would be spent fiddling with tools, > and no real work would ever be done. > > (This is why people just ignore the endless "when will you be upgrading > to gcc 2.7.x" - there are bugs in 2.7.x that the FSF have said won't > be fixed until 2.8.0, and the work and stress involved would be substantial.) This is silly, the same argument applies to the 2.6 -> 2.7 transition. 2.8 will have bugs too, but for some of us, there are BIG differences, especially when you try to use g++. The same argument applies for the latest versions of diff, RCS (these two are already upgraded), binutils, etc. The reason new versions get released is because there are new features and/or bugs fixed. If there wasn't, then there would be no reason for new versions, would there? People who use these utilities find those bugs, and each time they install a new FreeBSD system, they say to themselves, damn, now I have to download 14 packages off of prep.ai.mit.edu and compile the latest version. All my friends run Linux, I guess I win for getting the most experience at compiling new GNU software (and finding bugs in old GNU software). I can contribute time for these types of things in a week or so when finals are over, but I hate both perl and tcl, don't know how to program either, and this makes bmaking things sort of a pain in the butt. I should write a bmakeifier in elisp, a real language. > Having said this, if the new version of makeinfo is backwards-compatible, > or at least the things that depend on it won't break (uucp, for example), > there's nobody that will complain at you for bringing it in! > > > -josh > > -- > ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ > ]] Genesis Software genesis@atrad.adelaide.edu.au [[ > ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ > ]] realtime instrument control (ph/fax) +61-8-267-3039 [[ > ]] Collector of old Unix hardware. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[
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