On 17/01/13 22:48, Gordon Rowell wrote:

Gordon,

thank you for maintaining both your interest and your passion. I know
you are not alone.

First, thank you for the first sensible reply I have seen on the future
of SME.

> 
> There is a history of people here setting timelines but committing nothing.
> 

Indeed. I have witnessed it myself. It doesn't mean that it has to
continue, and may be now, with the obvious interest, is a good time to
redress the situation. I am not so naive to realise that it is an easy
task, but it doesn't mean that it shouldn't be tried....

> I did this as a fulltime job some years back. My wet finger in the air
> estimate is that an Alpha CentOS6 based SMEServer is two months fulltime
> for someone who knows RPM packaging and can make tweaks to existing Perl
> code. It may be less, it may be more, it's a guess.
> 
> So let's say 300 hours of concentrated effort. That's before docs,
> detailed testing, etc. Let's say I'm a pessimist and it's only 100
> hours. That's still large, and needs doing, not just talking about.
> There's at least the same again to get from Alpha to Beta and usually
> less from Beta to Gold, as long as no new code/feature is introduced.
> 
> If people other than the core devs do some of this and say "I'm stuck
> <here>", things will happen much faster. Technical people like to solve
> technical problems. Offer specific problems to solve. Keep the
> discussions about organisation and development separate.
> 

That is absolutely brilliant. Commits to nothing, BUT gives SOME idea of
what to aim at.


>> Have you another suggestion ????
> 
> I have made a few, and responded on devinfo to your efforts there (well
> done).

Thanks :-) Quite frankly, I'm a part timer and quite shit at anything
code wise, but I like politics and figured if I started something, it
may provoke some interest..... and be a gauge of interest.....

> 
>> Seems to me as I first stated, this is a chicken and egg situation.
>> Where do we start, cos currently we have got nowhere.....
> 
> Your start on devinfo is great. Without understanding what it takes to
> get to CentOS6 and how many hours people will provide to help, there can
> be no timeline.
> 

Ok, so roll up roll up. How do we get over this situation whereby we
CAN'T ask for volunteers but we need to know who is about and can do
what ?????

Charlie, you said we SHOULDN'T ask for volunteers. Rather than telling
us what can't be done, can we have some positive suggestions on what we
CAN do, beyond the 'get your head down and arse up and do something'  ?

This needs a bit of planning. I'm happy to get involved and so are some
others. But we can't have 10/20/50 people running round like headless
chickens. It didn't work before and it sure as hell won't work now.

Charlie, personally I would love to see you do what do best (!). Coding.
Indeed, you can be downright blunt, and we have crossed swords on this
in the past. Equally I understand your frustrations. The solution is
(read boring) a management one - taking some of the crap off your back
to allow you to concentrate on all your goodness...... though newbies
(and older gits like me) do still need a bit of patience - we ARE trying
to help and learn, or we wouldn't have posted bugs etc in the first place.

I'd love to see you arguing the toss over some arcane wizardry on
building isos. Your comments on the PHP / Perl thing are a deal breaker
for me.

So can't we at least TRY to get some sort of plan together and see if we
can get a few people working on a few nominated areas ?

Please ? If it fails, so be it. Are we any worse off ?

Lastly, if there is no constitution, if I want to be completely contrary
then there is no bloody reason at all why I or anyone else can't suggest
a plan and not be shot down. Is there ? You Australians don't have a
monopoly on bloody mindedness. You just inherited it from us Brits ;-)

So, I suggest we revisit what Hsing Foo said in the first place as a
plan and a starting point, and work from there. hack it to bits,. change
it as you see fit, reschedule what you like, but at least make a start.

I intend to create two threads. One for discussion of a plan for the
future, and a second to see if anyone is interested in at least
attempting to make a commitment to some form of organisation.

Anyone in favour, or am I just peeing in the breeze ??

B. Rgds
John
_______________________________________________
Discussion about project organisation and overall direction
To unsubscribe, e-mail [email protected]
Searchable archive at http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/public/discussion/

Reply via email to