(Warning: rant) A couple of months, the issue of generating GUIDs with tallow came up as well. Then I proposed to write an autocomplete utility that, for example, could take the output of tallow and add the guids automatically. I wrote that code and submitted it to the WiX-devs list. It's still pending, with hardly any feedback at all. (Note: for about two weeks in September, my e-mail wasn't functioning. I might have missed e-mails that affected 'my code')
It's rather sad to see that three months later, somebody else can write similar code and get it into CVS in less than a week time. CVS is out there for a reason, why isn't it being used properly? WiX only seems to use CVS as an alternative for distributing the source code in a .ZIP file, maybe even only because it is a SourceForge requirement. If my code had been pending for review in CVS, for example, it would have been visible that somebody else has invested time in writing such an utility. I'm sure that if my code were in an unstable branch of the CVS, it already would have been improved a lot. Now nothing happened to it, and it will likely end up being a waste of time. Which is an extremely dissapointing experience and greatly reduces my interest in further submitting code for the WiX toolset. Which is a pitty, because I like WiX. In my opinion, WiX still is a cathedral rather than a bazaar, see the famous writing of Eric Steven Raymond at http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ for more information about that. Anybody who wants to learn a little bit more about open source development will be greatly interested in reading the paper. Recommended reading as well is the book "Open Source Development with CVS, 3rd Edition" (chapter 7, for example. is interesting material), which can be downloaded free of charge at http://cvsbook.red-bean.com/. If you reed the paper and the book, I'm sure you'll come to the same conclusion as me, that is, that WiX in se is rather a closed source project that only happens to release its source code and doesn't use a closed source license, than a true open source project. Another thing that extremely bothers me is that apparently lots of tools are in the work (WiXCop, or the tool that is the reason that the CodeDOM was written), without any of the code of these tools being visible in the CVS repository. It mainly reduces everybody who doesn't have access to the 'master' repository (inside Microsoft, if I'm correct?) to distant spectators of an interesting process, rather than active and contributing participants in the development process of a great tool. If the code compiles, why isn't it in the repository? Why can't other people benifit from it? Most of these tools probably address the need of others, other people even may start to write tools that solve the problem, hence, duplicating the effort. If code is written today to add GUID generation support to tallow, and if it is going to be in the next drop, I want it on CVS today! I mean, how difficult can it be to automate the process of synchronising two repositories? One of the great benefits of the open source development process is that somebody has an idea, starts working on it and others help them out. It means that you don't need bug free or rock solid code in the CVS repository (note that for your stable releases, that of course is an requirement), rather, make your code visible and let others help you to both improve the quality of your code and speed up the development process! Besides, I have a technical question about the copyright agreement that is a requirement for WiX and really seems to hurt contributions. I've went through it, and it's a painful process. The explanation given for the existence of the copyright agreement is that it would allow Microsoft to defend the source code if required. However, anybody is free to modify the WiX code and redistribute it without signing an agreement. It would be perfectly possible to fork WiX and create a new project that accepts code from others without the need for the copyright agreement. So, can anybody explain the need of the copyright agreement? This mail may be percieved as a rather uncoherent rant, however, I intended to write it for quite a while. This just seemed to be a good occasion. I think a lot of my complaints could be solved by actually opening an 'unstable' or 'devel' branch in WiX and allowing submissions more easily there. There, code could mature (like cheese or wine :)) and make it's way into the stable branch. Let me finish by saying that well, WiX really has been useful for me. I hope that my feedback in the end will help make WiX only better, Frederik Carlier -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of SourceForge.net Sent: Wed 10/26/2005 8:57 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [WiX-devs] [ wix-Bugs-1328856 ] tallow should create component guids with "PUT-GUID-HERE" Bugs item #1328856, was opened at 2005-10-17 11:14 Message generated for change (Comment added) made by derekc You can respond by visiting: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=642714&aid=1328856&group_id=105970 Please note that this message will contain a full copy of the comment thread, including the initial issue submission, for this request, not just the latest update. Category: tallow Group: v2.0 >Status: Pending >Resolution: Fixed Priority: 5 Submitted By: Derek (derekc) >Assigned to: Derek (derekc) Summary: tallow should create component guids with "PUT-GUID-HERE" Initial Comment: Currently, tallow does not generate component guids - this leads to people forgetting to put guids in their components and thus accidentally creating permanent components. It would be better if tallow inserted "PUT-GUID-HERE" for all the Component/@Guid attributes to let users know that they should insert a guid for all the components. This would also make it much easier for someone to write a script that can replace all the instances of "PUT-GUID-HERE" with an actual guid so that they can get their authoring setup the first time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >Comment By: Derek (derekc) Date: 2005-10-25 23:57 Message: Logged In: YES user_id=518766 This should be fixed in the next drop. Tallow may also have a new unrelated option called gg :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can respond by visiting: https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=642714&aid=1328856&group_id=105970 ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the JBoss Inc. Get Certified Today * Register for a JBoss Training Course Free Certification Exam for All Training Attendees Through End of 2005 Visit http://www.jboss.com/services/certification for more information _______________________________________________ WiX-devs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-devs
<<winmail.dat>>
