From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 25 00:45:17 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D50F016A4CE for ; Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:45:17 -0800 (PST) Received: from critter.freebsd.dk (critter.freebsd.dk [212.242.86.163]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B314343F3F for ; Tue, 25 Nov 2003 00:45:13 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from phk@phk.freebsd.dk) Received: from critter.freebsd.dk (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by critter.freebsd.dk (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id hAP8jBDx033349 for ; Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:45:11 +0100 (CET) (envelope-from phk@phk.freebsd.dk) To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org From: "Poul-Henning Kamp" Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 09:45:11 +0100 Message-ID: <33348.1069749911@critter.freebsd.dk> Subject: How many bikesheds can _you_ build on a pin head ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 08:45:18 -0000 In message <20031125075733.GQ27235@atreides.freenix.no>, shaun@shamz.net writes : > >First, this can be moved right to -chat or /dev/null. Without it being an attack on shauns probably well thought out email, his offer in the first line of it is too good to pass. This is an email to everybody who participated in the most recent couple of bikesheds: FreeBSD exists because the stuff in the CVS repos has value to people. If FreeBSD starts to fall behind or even God forbid, downright suck, people will abandon FreeBSD. The people who improve the value of the CVS repos are called committers. Committers are volounteers who do the best they can for free, more often than not in their own spare time. Committers have never been known to have large amounts of spare time nor (with a few notable exceptions) a desire to receive as much email as possible. So all the time committers spend wading through bikesheds of email is time they don't work on the code, docs or ports, and therefore ipso facto time during which FreeBSD looses momentum. And each of you, every time you feel like sending an email, therefore get to decide, indirectly, if FreeBSD should have a future or not. Think about it this way, next time you press "reply": Would I rather have all the developers read my email or would I rather have them working on improving FreeBSD ? Also, think about this: You run, unquestioned code which does great and magic things deep in the VM system, interrupt code, buffer cache, filesystems etc etc, you don't even stop to think about how it actually works, you trust the people who did it to know better than you. But once it comes to a totally insignificant issue as to which binaries are linked static and dynamic, you suddenly do not trust the judgement of the same people, but feel that your views are so important that it is paramount that they listen to you and do exactly as you say because YOU KNOW BETTER!!! That my friends, is how you could help kill BSD... I have for myself recently taken a break from all active FreeBSD development because I find the environment about as pleasant as a kindergarten right before lunch. If the project continues to degenerate into one bikeshed discussion bigger than the next about issues of increasing irrelevance, then I won't be able to persuade myself to go back in and suffer the noise while I work on the really important things. Poul-Henning PS: As for DFBSD staff posting to FreeBSD lists: the other 2-3 BSDs have for ten years managed to coexist mostly peacefully because we have respected each others mailing lists as not being suitable for promoting our cause. DFBSD would do well in adopting the same. PPS: Poul-Henning has not been a core member for a number of years now, so he obviously does not speak for core@. He also does not speak for the project as such. He doesn't speak with any special authority either. He simply speaks for himself, as a committer who has been one of the most active in the FreeBSD project for the last ten years. There, that should save a core member or two the trouble of posting a disclaimer. Hope you appreciate it :-) PPPS: If you post this to SlashDot, DaemonNews or other such fora, you're lame beyond imagination. -- Poul-Henning Kamp | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20 phk@FreeBSD.ORG | TCP/IP since RFC 956 FreeBSD committer | BSD since 4.3-tahoe Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.