First there was Majordomo... Once upon a time, Majordomo version one was the leader in its field. So good was it, that ambitious plans were laid for a succeeding generation: version two. And at that point it went off the rails and ended up in a ditch. 'Domo V1 got stuck, because the development went into 'Domo V2. But V2 got stuck because it never got released and never got used. And so the once glorious Majordomo sadly faded into the night-time of obscurity.
Move forward a few years... In another place, at a later time, Mailman v2.1 became the leader in its field. So good was it, that ambitious plans were laid, not just for one, but for two, succeeding generations: v2.2 and v3. And at that point... ... well what has happened? Nearly two years ago, the July 5 2006 "What I did on my summer vacation" email and wiki entry (http://wiki.list.org/x/vg) outlined a massive amount of potential progress. But, in reality, what actually have we (the subset of real-world end-users who could assist development) been able to do? Has Mailman lost its way? Could it be drifting to the same obscurity and oblivion as the entire majordomo project? Could I suggest that serious consideration be given to: 1. Freeze 2.1 now. No new features. The only exception would be security bug-fixes. Nothing else. 2. Freeze "new idea" development now. Concentrate solely on bugfixing the already implemented ideas. 3. Decide whether 2.2 or 3.0 is the way of the near future. The reality is that neither of these has delivered anything to the real-world end-user during two or more years. Choose only one. Freeze the other for the time being, until the "chosen one" has been properly post-beta released. 4. Whichever of the above is chosen, aim to start delivering betas fast. Get something out there that you (the main developers) and we (some real-world end-users who can help bug-hunt) can get to work on, knowing that our work will be productive in a foreseeable timescale. Set the goal. Drive towards it, ignoring distractions. 5. For a few months, change the mindset away from development (yes, I know we coders love it) and towards a firm, decisively-directed "release management" (to use ITIL-speak). Mailman used to be a leading product. But it is slipping behind. We, the end-users, need some of that new code that's being lying dormant, and (to an end-user) unuseable, during the last two years or so. Many of us, the enthusiastic real-world end-users, cannot realistically commit to developing something for which there is no clear strategy. Give us a strategy, a roadmap with real, near-future dates on it, then we can at least make local business cases to our local managements for our taking part in beta trials. Let's get some new code out now as beta. There may be a sizeable "TODO"; there may be a sizeable "Known Problems". But let's start releasing betas soon, and concentrate all our limited efforts on that one common task. Otherwise, are we not in danger of following Majordomo into oblivion? (Oh, and #1 on my own list is proper "virtual domains": the Jul/2005 paper mentioned that the code substantially existed. But sadly it's never come anywhere near a release schedule. If we have a realistic beta-release schedule, then I can locally justify actively investing in bug-hunting.) Sorry if that sounds harsh. It is meant to be constructive. (Honest!) Best wishes. -- : David Lee I.T. Service : : Senior Systems Programmer Computer Centre : : UNIX Team Leader Durham University : : South Road : : http://www.dur.ac.uk/t.d.lee/ Durham DH1 3LE : : Phone: +44 191 334 2752 U.K. : _______________________________________________ Mailman-Developers mailing list Mailman-Developers@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-developers Mailman FAQ: http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/mailman-developers%40python.org/ Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/mailman-developers/archive%40jab.org Security Policy: http://www.python.org/cgi-bin/faqw-mm.py?req=show&file=faq01.027.htp
