According to Joe R. Jah:
> On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Geoff Hutchison wrote:
> > At 4:33 PM -0800 2/21/01, Joe R. Jah wrote:
> > >I wouldn't interpret lack of volunteers to lack of interest. Overwhelming
> > >majority of "interested" in HTdig, or any other public software for that
> > >matter, are just users; they may not have adequate expertise, time, or
> > >gumption to pull up their sleeves and delve into the code, but I assure
> > >you, they are _interested_.
I guess for me the issue is how interested are they? It's one thing
to ask for a pre-packaged update that you can install in 15 minutes,
and quite another to be willing to invest days of coding, documenting,
checking and rechecking to put together that update. That's the level
of interest I had in 3.1.5, and fortunately things were relaxed enough
at work that I was able to do that. Now, though, things are busier,
and my to-do list here at work has to take priority. It's hard for me
to justify such a huge time commitment when the patched 3.1.5 we're
running on our small web site is doing the job. So, I'm asking if there
are any volunteers as interested in 3.1.6 as I was in 3.1.5.
> > Of course. No one doubts that. On the other hand, Gilles had a few points:
> > a) It's quite a bit of work to organize a release. It's not just
> > something you jump into for one or two patches that only a few people
> > use. Keep in mind it wasn't until I stepped forward to put together
> > 3.1.0b1 that there was such a beast. Until then it was a pile of
> > patches to 3.0.8b2.
>
> Yes, I remember your successful, tenacious, and single handed resolve to
> jump a full notch from 3.0 to 3.1; in my previous message I meant to say that
> the move from 3.1.4 to 3.1.5 was almost entirely done by Gilles;
> therefore, I think he is most familiar with the ins and outs of it because
> that's where 3.1 lingers, 3.1.5.
I may be the most familiar with some or most of the ins and outs (although
Geoff has probably mastered some parts better than I have), but I really
don't want to remain the only one who is familiar with it. Geoff and
I are just about the only people remaining who still semi-regularly
update the source trees. That's not enough for a project this size.
Unfamiliarity with the project is not a reason to avoid involvement,
but a surmountable obstacle.
> > b) Little development is happening right now because too few of us
> > are spread too thin. "Many hands makes light work" is the saying that
> > comes to mind. Coding expertise is not necessarily key, but testing
> > and organization are.
>
> That's exactly my point. The same workforce can organize a solved puzzle
> a lot faster and easier than to solve a new one and organize it.
Well, Geoff and I are still ready to organize things as best we can, but
so far there's no workforce to organize. We're it.
> > There are many reasons beyond just phrase searching to use 3.2. When
>
> I am not well versed about 3.2, but I can not enumerate any concrete,
> widely demanded features/advantages other than phrase searching.
Just off the top of my head, there's more efficient searching, HTML parser
fixes, better hop count management, URL and server blocks for parameters,
HTTP 1.1 support, support for non-http URLs, and various bug fixes, almost
all of which can't be readily backported to the 3.1.x series (except maybe
some of the HTML parser fixes).
I'm not ready to give up on 3.1.x entirely yet, but I don't want it
supported at the cost of progress on 3.2.0 either. Spreading Geoff
and me thinner than we are already won't contribute to the health of
either release, so I ask again to those who are interested in 3.1.6,
how interested are you?
--
Gilles R. Detillieux E-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Spinal Cord Research Centre WWW: http://www.scrc.umanitoba.ca/~grdetil
Dept. Physiology, U. of Manitoba Phone: (204)789-3766
Winnipeg, MB R3E 3J7 (Canada) Fax: (204)789-3930
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