Re: config.status has been broken by issue 5780 "Accept GUILE 2 without extra configure options"

[David Kastrup]

Jonas Hahnfeld <address@hidden> writes:

> Am Sonntag, den 08.03.2020, 12:50 +0100 schrieb Werner LEMBERG:
>> > Not being able to change gradually makes development more painful.
>> 
>> > There was discussion as to why there are so few developers - this
>> 
>> > will be my prime reason if I'm required to add compatibility for
>> 
>> > everything.  Yes, this includes things so fundamental as Guile.
>> 
>> 
>> Uh, oh, now you are exaggerating, Jonas.  You don't *have* to use
>> `guile-config`, and it's not you who is going to add the few lines of
>> code for compatibility.
>
> It will be me for future changes I submit, no?

It tends to minimize oversights and maximize the competency in dealing
with an issue if the original developer tries catering for the
consequences of code they submit.  The history of LilyPond is not
exactly a shining example for that but that doesn't mean that there is a
reason to glorify not bothering about the consequences of changes for
others.

Build system changes tend to be disproportionately affected by
portability considerations and catering to typical problems people
building LilyPond, not all of them with qualifications far exceeding the
average, may experience.

So you cannot really expect to hear that not considering consequences
for others is a desirable thing.  At least not from me.

At any rate, can we focus on the issue at hand rather than building our
strawmen from straw of future harvests?  We have a current issue that
has already bitten several not-completely-stupid developers (even if you
disagree with that characterisation, we just cannot afford further
restricting the qualifications for being allowed to work with LilyPond),
so it is reasonable to assume that it will affect also people outside of
the core team.

This issue is a lot less likely with things other than libguile.

-- 
David Kastrup
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