Re: GNOME 1 ABI involving libpng
> > > (Sorry, but GNOME is currently a huge mess in Debian, between a
> > > haphazard upgrade of 2.x to libpng3, screwing up the ABI of 1.x
> > > via libpng3, and the zero-strategy migration to GNOME 2.x in
> > > unstable. I'm not used to this kind of blundering from Debian
> > > projects... This one seriously needs informed and cooperative
> > > leadership.)
> >
> > Only one word, bullshit. And please stop your troll in our list.
>
> That's a little harsh.
Indeed. The upgrade /was/ haphazard, the GNOME installations /are/ a mess,
and the libpng3 migration strategy -- as far as I can see from reading
the archives -- was in fact zero-strategy.
This is proven by the simple fact that the libpng3 change was debated
and is still being debated and challenged /after/ the packages have been
recompiled. Reverting the change has even been proposed. If a consensus
had been formed and a strategy created, that wouldn't be happening.
Note that I'm not talking about the GNOME2 transition, I'm talking about
libpng3.
Debian has more public, in-the-open communications than any other distro I
know; there's a mailing list for everything and then some. After finding my
system suddenly b0rken and turning to these lists for help, I was stunned
to discover that the "migration strategy" consisted of, "I've made this
change and uploaded it into unstable. Everything will therefore remain
broken/on-hold until all of you recompile your packages. Snap to it."
There's no excuse for that lack of planning, really, given how easy it is
to ask advice or inform one another of plans. /Before/ implementing them.
It's one thing to be "unstable", it's something else to be rudely disruptive.
(I thought the "experimental" dist was for changes of this nature? I'm not
familiar with that on myself, could easily be wrong there.)
> I am very grateful for the efforts of the Debian volunteers,
Likewise. Even taking this mess into account, I wouldn't switch distros.
(Well, maybe I'll switch to testing. *grin*)
> but the Gnome2 process has been exceptionally painful.
All we can hope for is that the maintainers will learn from the mistakes,
rather than defending them.
Phil
--
I would therefore like to posit that computing's central challenge, viz. "How
not to make a mess of it," has /not/ been met.
- Edsger Dijkstra, 1930-2002
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