Am 08.11.2010 12:27, schrieb Thomas Friedrichsmeier: > On Friday 05 November 2010, Ralf Habacker wrote: >> Am 5.11.2010 16:27, schrieb Thomas Friedrichsmeier: >>>> The compiler discussion is old already, and it won't be solved any time >>>> soon. So let's try to focus on the other problems first. >>> >>> Yeah, I know, I'm late to the party. But BTW, if I'm not mistaken this is >>> another example of a discussion that should have been had on the list, >>> instead of behind the scenes. >> >> strong words - >> http://dot.kde.org/2007/09/18/windows-developers-meet-berlin was the >> place where this has been discussed - i did not see you there. > > Well, to elaborate a bit, I'll break this up into three sub-issues: > > 1) The timing. I wasn't even remotely connected to the KDE on Windows project > at that time. No matter how and where you would have discussed this, you would > not have seen me there. I *know* I am late to the party. And I can hardly > complain that you reached a decision at that time, and neither about which > decision you reached, or why. I'm not trying to turn back time. > > > 2) The "place" of discussion. Perhaps *at that time* the meeting in berlin > really was a good place to decide on this. Perhaps it really allowed all > relevant people to be there, or at least to feel represented, there. I can't > comment on that. But I'll use strong wording again: In general, and for any > community project, I find it presumptious to think that a physical meeting is a > good place to reach a final decision on a core aspect like this (and one that > was not entirely uncontroversial, as far as I understand). Core strategical > decisions may well be *discussed*, and *prepared* on a phyiscal meeting. A > face-to-face meeting has obvious advantages for discussion. But attending a > physical meeting means a large investment of time (and for most: money), and > for hobbyists with limited time, and those living far away, it is quite likely > to be a prohibitively large investment. > > So if you want to allow these people to participate in decisions, then make > sure the final words on core decisions are spoken in a forum that everybody has > a real chance to participate in. The mailing list looks like an obvious > choice. > > Now, democracy is not the be all and end all in software development. For free > software, in particular, "the ones who do the work are the ones to decide" is > still a golden rule. Just keep in mind that clinging to this a little too > closely can easily end up in "the ones who decide are the only ones left > willing to do the work". > > Again, I am not trying to turn back the time. The decison has been made, and > perhaps *at that time* a physical meeting was an appropriate forum for that. > But if you care about community partcipation, then please keep in mind that > physical meetings (or IRC) may not always be the ideal forum for everything. > > > 3) Documenting the decision. If it's a core strategical decision, and esp. if > it keeps being brought up, then, by all means, make sure to document it > properly and visibly. > > I knew that the question of supporting multiple compilers in emerge was a non- > negotiable issue - because I happen to have touched on that spike, earlier. > And so I did not bring this up, again. > > I expected that the suggestion to release binaries for only one compiler would > be controversial. I did *not* know, or even expect that opinions are similarly > strong, and that the discussion is similarly dead on this topic. > > Well, eventually, I have been told. So I have attempted to document this at > http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Windows/FAQ#Multiple_compiler_support > . Please take a look to make sure you are ok with the way I've tried to > summarize it. Well, seems like you hit the bull's eye with that. > > And so, whenever the next fool brings up this issue, and *as soon as* the next > fool brings up the issue, you can point them to this FAQ, and save everybody > involved a whole lot of time and frustration. This fool, here, would have > appreciated being told about it on or around October, 12, for instance. Hm. > > Regards > Thomas > > > regards, Patrick _______________________________________________ Kde-windows mailing list Kde-windows@kde.org https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-windows