Re: Doc build hanging (with memory leak?)

[David Kastrup]

Joseph Rushton Wakeling <address@hidden> writes:

> One of the frustrations on that occasion a year ago was that I would
> have been quite likely on my own initiative to see if I could do
> anything, _if_ I hadn't been treated to the lecture.

It is a reasonably safe guess that the "lecture" had been by Graham.
Graham has been the de facto project leader for a number of years now
and has been frequently willing to quit.  He has some renown for being
"grumpy" (from a time where I did not start topping him in that regard),
and part of the reason is that he has been bogged down with a _lot_ of
administrative work for LilyPond that nobody else was really eager to
step up for.

As a result, his reactions to "wouldn't it be fantastic if you took on
all of the following additional work" kind of suggestions tends to be
less than enthusiastic, and there is rarely a large cool-off period
between two of them.  This may at times constitute sort of an entry
threshold.  When people are forced to take sides, they will tend to
favor opinions more compatible with Graham staying around rather than a
newcomer.

Now it would be unfair to put all the blame and all the credit on
Graham: the fact is that musicians are somewhat special, and programmers
are somewhat special, and the combination does not get all that less
special.  Try reading through the recent thread on the developer list
with "s1*0" in its title.  You'll find that long-term contributors with
a high respect of each other's contributions and personality can't help
going for the others' jugular.

And that's because they are passionate about what they do with and to
LilyPond.  For better or worse, it is not necessarily an environment
abounding with pleasantry.  But there _is_ work being done, decisions
made, and LilyPond brought forward with dedication and compassion.

>> Have you considered the possibility that he was simply telling you
>> the truth?
>
> At the time it didn't seem that way.  But I'm prepared to believe that
> was in fact the case and I misinterpreted it.

I am pretty sure it was the truth, though likely not told with a surplus
amount of delicacy.

> Might be a nice moment to see what I can do about that long-dormant
> doc work. :-)

Well, I can't promise you a Rosegarden.

-- 
David Kastrup