On Sep 2, 2009, at 1:08 PM, Dag Sverre Seljebotn wrote:

> Stefan Behnel wrote:
>> One problem I see here is the current release schedule. We keep  
>> getting
>> more and more away from the "release early, release often" principle.
>> Getting 0.12 out in one way or another would finally make all the  
>> great
>> trunk improvements available to regular users.

Yep, I'd like to see releases more often too.

>> Thing is: every release
>> needs a driver, so that's the first place where we could benefit  
>> from a
>> dedicated helping hand. I mean, Sun pays the Jython project lead,  
>> even
>> full-time. Guido is payed half-time for CPython evolution. I  
>> wonder if
>> there isn't enough commercial interest in Cython by now that could  
>> express
>> itself in contributed project time or financing. A developer day  
>> invested
>> in Cython development can easily pay off by making your own code  
>> easier to
>> write and/or faster to execute. Remember, we write C so you don't  
>> have to!
>>
>> (maybe we should put the last two sentences on the front page ;)
>
> :-) I think they'd fit nicely.

+1

> As for commercial interest... well, if nothing else, figuring out
> whether anyone's employable and for what tasks (might want to take  
> that
> off-list perhaps) and ask "officially" for monetary donations on the
> list would at least give an indication on whether it is the case.
>
> (I guess we can always solicit for manpower as well, in particular for
> "simple" tasks like doc writing and Windows testing as well.)

I think we're short manpower, not money, but of course the latter can  
sometimes be used to obtain for the former.

> Making a decision to request donations isn't a trivial issue though --
> one time this was discussed earlier there was concern that having  
> people
> paid (beyond GSoC money) could stifle other contributions and be  
> seen as
> against the current open development nature. It's a very valid  
> concern,
> though in the exact situation we're in now I don't have issues with it
> myself.
>
> Then there's fear of sending a signal that makes people afraid of  
> Cython
> dying if we can't get donations (which isn't true IMO).

Yep, it also sends the signal that we're trying to turn this into a  
money-making venture, which is not the case. It's like GSoC,  
sometimes funding is needed to free up/justify time that would have  
had to been spent elsewhere.

I also think there's a very different feel to 3rd party X paying  
person Y to implement/improve a specific Cython feature vs. someone  
giving Cython money which is then used to "employ" someone to work on  
the code.

Cython's going very well, and I see it continuing no matter what. The  
main change I would see funding having is someone getting the  
features they want/need now, instead of whenever we get around to it.

- Robert

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