Re: [JOS-Kernel] [rheise.os 0.1.4] Warning

[Gilbert Carl Herschberger II]

At 08:31 PM 5/15/00 -0400, "Todd L. Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>       Before getting down to deciding if the renaming is correct, how
>much documentation have we actually produced?  (I sure don't recall
>writing much.)  If it's as little as I remember, it won't be a problem to
>do a renaming.

If one prefers to look exclusively at one's own work, one should work alone.

Others have written and will continue to write about the JOS Project,
including the goal and purpose of the jos.system package. Respect others.
By changing a package name, you'll accidentally destroy their work.

We have incorporated jos.system into the JOS Binary Distribution. Before we
change the name of a package, we must find volunteers to change the package
and rebuild the JOS Binary Distribution.

We have countless articles on JOS Wiki and elsewhere. This is part of the
documentation of the JOS Project. Before we change the name of a package,
we must find volunteers who are signed up to change all of the related
articles.

We have countless messages on our mailing list. This is part of the
documentation of the JOS Project. We don't have the time to go back and
edit those messages even if we could.

>It's not like we have a stable release where changing a namespace would cause
>massive numbers of developers untold agony when they had to recode :)

If we treat a product as if it were not a stable release, it will never be
a stable release. A loose group of volunteers needs to be very efficient.
By always treating a product as a stable release, we reduce the volunteer
effort required from others.

How many members can we put through this agony? If changing a name would
cause 100 members untold agony, should we change the name? If changing a
name would cause 10 members untold agony, should we change the name? How
would you feel if you were one of those members?

How many customers (non-members) can we put through this agony? Maybe
jos.system isn't that important to you. Before we change the name, we must
ask every customer that has downloaded jos.system from JOS CVS. Before we
change the name, we must ask every customer that received a copy of
jos.system from someone who downloaded it from JOS CVS.

All our members are volunteers. We must treat all our members with respect,
not just a few. It means that we don't put any member through untold agony.
We change a name as the last resort. We only change a name when we have
absolutely no choice.

Programming in place is a very bad habit. A volunteer group like the JOS
Project might get away with it once or twice. You might get away with it
many times if you are a commercial company with a monopoly, like Sun
Microsystems.


_______________________________________________
Kernel maillist  -  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://jos.org/mailman/listinfo/kernel