Kumaran Santhanam <kumaran@tigris.org> writes:
> The features I propose are intended to be very minor code changes
> that can make a big difference to the user experience. The
> easier SVN is to setup and use, the more acceptance it will gain.
> Average users are generally resistant to creating custom wrappers
> for their favorite tools or functionality. The fewer times they
> have to ask "Why can't I do ... ?", the better their perceived
> experience will be.
>
> I'd love to hear what others on the list think.
I think that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. :-)
Let me explain that.
I think that you've got some excellent ideas, and they've actually
been brought up on the list several times in the past. I *completely*
agree with your sentiments that the earlier we can get them into
Subversion, the better. However, I can go through the issue tracker
and find at least 15 other features that I feel the same way about.
My point here is this: Subversion has been in development for three
and a half years now and has not yet gotten to 1.0. Every feature we
add, however small, takes time from the committers". It doesn't
matter if someone submits a perfect patch complete with tests,
documentation, etc--each new feature takes time to review and apply.
Most importantly, edge cases come up, new bugs are discovered at a
later date, and a million other small things happen that push 1.0
further away, one minute at a time.
Designing and writing new features is a lot of fun. Hunting down and
fixing arcane bugs and edge cases is considerably less entertaining.
It's frustrating to say the least when you're head down fixing
annoying little bugs and people keep showing up with new features to
add--features that you'd *love* to be designing and writing yourself,
but you can't because you're pushing for 1.0. Heck, most people would
rather write 10 new features than fix 1 bug, and 90% of the projects
on SourceForge are damning proof of that.
If you really want to see some new features added to Subversion sooner
rather than later, grab an unassigned pre-1.0 bug and help out. Once
we hit 1.0, then I'm sure people will be much more amenable to adding
new features. Certainly, we can't stop you from working on whatever
you like, but be aware that patches for new features will most likely
be filed away for post 1.0 review instead of being processed right
away.
In any case, my intention here isn't to scare you away, and I do hope
you stick around to contribute--you asked what "others on the list
think", and this is exactly what I think. :-)
-Fitz speaking only for himself
--
Brian W. Fitzpatrick <fitz_at_red-bean.com> http://www.red-bean.com/fitz/
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Received on Sat Aug 23 19:06:32 2003