[Gnu-arch-users] Re: Linus

[Tom Lord]

    > From: "Stephen J. Turnbull" <address@hidden>

    >     Tom> I _am_ asking: "Do we really want Miles to have to repeat
    >     Tom> sending a patch 3 times?"

    > No, we want Miles to use the system that Linus does, and it would no
    > longer be a problem, as Davide pointed out.

That would help with many aspects of the problem, sure.   But have you
noticed that, even with everyone using arch, we also use the savannah
bug tracker as a crude approximation of a patch tracker?  

    >     Tom> I think you're taking too narrow a view of what's going on
    >     Tom> the kernel world when you focus on just a few big names.

    > I'm not focusing on the few big names a priori.  I'm arguing that the
    > physical realities of communication, even with the nice tools you
    > propose (not to mention have already written :-), combined with the
    > essentially aristocratic nature of design, will lead to such focus.

And I think it's a mix.

Yes, sure, inevitably a few leaders emerge and become important hubs.
I agree that, intuitively, that seems inevitable.

In designing tools to help manage the communication with those hubs,
it is a good principle to keep in mind to not erect artificial
barriers that keep the location of hubs from shifting over time or
multiplying in number.  That's a principle behind arch and it should
be a principle behind the design of a patch tracker.

-t