Re: long term goals of debian membership
On Sun, 3 Dec 2000, Ben Collins wrote:
> > Debian is NOT making the most out the open source/free software
> > developers fan base by a long way.
>
> I get so sick of hearing this argument/troll. Making it easier for joe
> blow to become a developer, when he might only submit one package, with
> his "leet" script he developed in highschool for organizing mp3's, is not
> going to make Debian better.
How many packages did you have when you became a DD?
> What will make Debian better is to have full-fledged developers who are
> better than average.
TRANSLATION: Collins got his sekrit decoder ring, now he wants to make it
harder for others to do the same.
> Those people who just want to do a few things in passing ("I started using
> Debian and I want to help"), do not need an @debian.org email, nor an
Nobody really needs an @debian.org email. It's just there so that there
is a guaranteed email for a DD. It could be @hotmail.com for all it
matters...
> account on our systems just to file bugs, provide patches, test and write
> docs. Neither do really good coders who can only put in an few hours of
> work every few months (e.g. Linus would not make a good Debian developer
> because he cannot put in a decent amount of time just for Debian). Don't
> get me wrong, I'm not trying to say developers need to work Debian as a
Somehow, I doubt I could get you wrong. You say you deserve more status
than Linus Torvalds for your contribtion to Debian. Who's next on your
list, RMS?
> full-time job, but doing something atleast once a week is a must to stay
> on top of policy and distribution specific things. Being a developer means
> you need to stay "in the mix".
So make it easy to become a DD and have a sunset criterion. Fail to
notice a couple of approximately weekly messages on -devel, you get a
warning, then dumped. Your objection is to those who become DDs and fail
to discharge their duties: so make it easy to become a DD, impossible to
become indispensable, and hard to stay a DD.
> Those people who say "I can't do that. I shouldn't have to read
> debian-devel just to be a developer", well I'm sorry, but I feel that our
> developers do need to keep in touch to do their volunteer work properly,
> else you are cheating Debian, it's users and your fellow developers.
> Developers that just "get by" are probably taking a position that could be
> better served by people who can put in the effort and time (you folks that
> can't aren't bad, just that Debian is getting too big not to have
> developers that can, and keep too many developers who can't).
Big of you to let them off so easy. Could you be any more condescending
to your peers?
> Ben
>
> PS: bring on the flames, I know this is going to get nasty. If you get
> real shitty, please make it private email so the list doesn't have to hear
> the clashing of our swords :)
>
>
--
I can be immature if I want to, because I'm mature enough to make my own
decisions.
Who is John Galt? galt@inconnu.isu.edu
Reply to: