On Tue, Aug 07, 2001 at 11:11:37PM -0400, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> Me: "It's long past time that the BTS had a real database backend. Is there
> any way I can help?"
You do understand how a jump from "perl + known text backend + working and
tested" to "C++ + new SQL backend + important parts yet unimplemented"
by someone who hasn't done much with the BTS as it stands isn't going
to inspire confidence straight off, right?
Personally, eg, I find C++ a revolting language, and not one that's
particularly well suited to debbugs (where speed isn't particularly
critical, and the slowness is due to algorithmic inefficiencies
(like reindexing regularly rather than updating them as the database
changes; and like having large numbers of files in a signle ext2
directory). Switching from an arch-independent language, to one whose
ABI changes incompatibly quite regularly is also something I wouldn't do.
But if you or someone else who actually likes C++ is going to maintain
the BTS and make sure it works on a day-to-day basis, that could be okay.
Breaking the RC bug list scanners (ie, bugscan) and requiring them to
be rewritten in some major way during the freeze would probably be bad.
I'm impressed if you've managed to duplicate all the behaviour of the
mail interface (assuming you have only just been working on it recently,
rather than the last seven months). Actually, even then, I'm impressed,
it could easily take seven months just to understand wtf some of the perl
in there's doing... That's definitely the first step in reimplementing
it, though.
Personally, I'd be inclined towards changing the .log format to be
something akin to batched-SMTP and stored in the filesystem (so that it
can be "replayed" if the database crashes; and so that the way the bugs
logs are displayed can be changed in future).
Cheers,
aj
--
Anthony Towns <aj@humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG signed mail preferred.
``_Any_ increase in interface difficulty, in exchange for a benefit you
do not understand, cannot perceive, or don't care about, is too much.''
-- John S. Novak, III (The Humblest Man on the Net)
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