Re: Debian is slower than time (was: adrian's 2.4.x packages)

[Brian White <bcwhite@pobox.com>]

> Please *ALWAYS* keep in mind that Debian is a free and (more or less)
> open project of vulunteers.  Volunteers are people who work on topics
> they consider important and useful.  If nobody considers RC bugs a
> problem, they will only fixed slowly.  If nobody cares about stable,
> there won't be updated stable revisions.  If nobody cares about
> security, there won't be updated packages in stable or unstable.  And
> if nobody cares about donations from any place of the world, there
> won't be a facility to easily donate money.

You're right that it's just a collection of volunteers but I don't agree
that you can't place expectations on them.  I'll bet you all the people
who volunteered to work at the Olympics had quite serious expectations
placed upon them, and rightly so.  My volleyball team is volunteer, but
we manage a team that has no extras -- if you can't make it, then you
have the responsibility of finding a sub.

As long as we say, "oh it's all right... just do it whenever you feel
like it", then that is what Debian will be: we get things done... umm...
whenever.  I try to tell people how great the Debian distribution is,
but when I'm forced to mention that the last stable release is 2 years
old it looses some of its luster.


> If you want something done, do it.  That's how Free Software works.
> Making proposals are not worth the bits they wasted.  Don't compare
> the Free Software community with a company where people can be forced
> to work on things.  This is not possible with volunteers.

No, you can't force people to do something.  On the other hand, you can
_expect_ them to do something.  And if they don't live up to your
expectations, then perhaps you don't want them on your team.  Maybe
they can be helped in to becoming a productive memember, but maybe
they can't.

Praise those who get things done, encourage those that have the potential,
and drop those who hold us back.  Give everyone a reasonable chance to
contribute but then give up.

As for the release schedule...  Debian doesn't have to be perfect.  Such
is an unrealistic goal.  I know I'd prefer "good" over "old".

                                          Brian
                                  ( bcwhite@pobox.com )

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