Re: [gnu.misc.discuss,gnu.emacs.gnus] Free software: Packagers vs Developers
Sorry for jumping in the thread, but, if I understand Mr Per Abrahamsen's replies, I'm an expert, because, at the moment, I'm just an user :-)
IMHO, there is no way to get a reasonable discussion, because the problem *ISN'T* really the forking of others versions ( this *IS* a problem, but Adam Di Carlo's answer is quite reasonable and sufficient), but an *EGO* problem : a "middleman" is between the user and the developer, and therefore, masking the developer for the user...
Larry Wall says that a developer must be proud. Okay Mr Abrahamsen, you're a developer, there is no doubt...
So, as a user ( i.e. an expert according to you), I say to you directly that you're point of view is logically inconsistent : if you don't want people to "fork" a new version, you must reply and take care of the messages sent to you by a packager. If you don't reply, then there is no other way for a maintainer than doing, by himself, the work.
Must I remind you that in an Unix system there is no real "kernel", but that the kernel ( "system calls") are part of each process ? Why should be the free software process different ? The reasonable solution is to let the packager take care of the "user level" ( the distribution problems), and cooperate with the developer for "the kernel level", I mean the bugs that involve the program by itself.
You're the *main* part of the process, but you must be *a part* of the process.
You ask the packagers to become developers. Why don't you package your stuff ? That's symmetrical... but I think it's simplest if the developer take care of the core program, and the maintainer take care of the integration in the distribution, and can forward you a "filtered" thread of bugs. I had posted some rubbish against one program, and hope that the maintainer will quietly send it to /dev/null rather than breaking the balls of the developers with that...
And the flame against Debian is an injustice : if there is an ethical distribution, that's Debian ...
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( (__ Thierry LARONDE
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