Re: This is how packaging should be done.
On Mon, Jun 10, 2002 at 06:20:10AM -0700, Jeremiah Mahler wrote:
> Well, don't ask why when people like me jump ship (use another distro).
Do you think we care? People start and stop using Debian for all kinds of
reasons, some of them well-informed, and others not-so-well-informed. To
me, your reasons look foolish. If you had a legitimate complaint (founded
on experience as a developer intimately familiar with the package management
process and its true shortcomings) then it might deserve discussion. But I
don't see anything worth following up on here.
> I am all for having quality packages, but that can(but not always)
> take time, and may be a burden on the package maintainer. If the
> current development model for Debian truly is the best, then I
> am glad it is being used. But, in order create something that is
> the best, all options must be considered. I personally think the
> article described what would be the best development model.
Other than the inclusion of untrusted developers in the process (a practice
which I question highly due to security concerns) I don't see a big
difference between that and what we already do. NMUs can be done by any
number of developers drawn from a very large pool when a particular
maintainer is unavailable to attend to his or her own packages. This is a
system that has worked well for years. You are missing the forest for the
trees. A lot of slowdowns have to do more with the larger infrastructural
issues that *must* be carefully planned out and implemented by a small group
of people who know what they are doing. It is not for lack of backup
maintainers for particular "problem packages" that things don't get done
quickly. Adding more people is not a solution (see "The Mythical Man Month"
by Fred Brooks for an account of why this is so). The larger issues that we
face have to do with better communication and teamwork among our *existing*
developers. It is hard enough "herding cats" with the large number of
developers we have. And you think opening up the development process to
every Tom, Dick and Harry will improve the quality? That's ludicrous.
Ben
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