Re: GNUstep roadmap (was Re: [Suggestion] GNUstep-test for quality control)

[Alex Perez]

> On 23.10.2003, at 04:18, Alex Perez wrote:
>>> Would you care to elaborate that?
>>>
>>> I mean, you are the "project leader" of GNUstep and YOU DON'T CARE
>>> and do not have any aspirations, but just hope it won't become
>>> obsolete?
>> Project leaders need to lead. With all due respect, I respect your
>> years of service to the GNUstep community but feel that maybe we need
>> some new blood, if, as you put it, you really "don't much care which
>> way it goes." We need a leader. We need someone to give this project
>> some direction. You may have done that at some point before I was
>> around, and while you are a valuable contributor to the project, I
>> hereby question your ability to lead this project with that kind of
>> mentality.
>
> Well, I do not in general disagree.
>
> But you should think about the "leaders need to lead". It just doesn't
> work that way in community driven OpenSource projects. You can't assign
> work to someone, someone *takes* work himself. And if there is no one
> who wants to QA and upload BSD patches, well, then you don't get them.
You are correct, but what *can* be done is (and will help, I think) is to
say "There are some outstanding problems with GNUstep, they are X, Y, and
Z,  if anyone has some time please look at these. We are looking for
someone to text GNUstep under BSD, x86-64. We need someone to write
documentation on the gnustep-back, etc."...that sort of thing...it gives
the project some direction and can give new potential developers a
starting point, and make them feel as if they can make a difference. There
is no organization to our project at all, and please, hold the comments
about how only the GNOME and KDE can be organized, because I quite frankly
think that's a big huge stinky load of crap :) We *CAN* do this, it's just
going to take some cohesion and cooperation. I have no doubt that it is
possible.
> In any case I would suggest that if a new lead is *really* choosen, it
> should be someone who is a major committer in GS.
Agreed
> I'm *extremely* disappointed on what is going on in the #gnustep IRC
> channel and I'm especially extremely disappointed that the people over
> in IRC do not bring up the plain issues they have here in the list.
> Personally I have the strong feeling that the GNUstep project should be
> split into two separate projects - one driven by #gnustep IRC and one
> driven by the "traditional" GNUstep developers (Richard, Adam, Nicola,
> ...).
Just because you don't understand *WHY* certain GNUstep users have bones
to pick with certain developers who have not checked their work well in
the past before comitting to CVS does not mean they don't have valid
concerns, Helge. It just means you disagree, and that's fine. #gnustep is
an IRC channel, and not all developers hang out there, nor are they
expected to do so. People have opinions, and they're entitled to them.
Just because you have anecdotal evidence that something is not so does not
mean it is in fact not so, because other people have had different
experiences under different circumstances.

Regards,
Alex Perez
> Helge