[iyonix-support] Re: Problem installing Firefox-2-r2
- From: Jeremy Brayshaw <jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: iyonix-support@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:20:46 GMT
In message <21e5b6c24e.peter@xxxxxxxxxx>
Peter Naulls <peter@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Packaging is a pipeline. So is the autobuilding system I developed as
> part of the GCCSDK project. The various HForm hacks I mentioned are
> all buckets, as are the other messes I named. Paul's effort is a
> bucket between two incomplete sections of pipe - a bucket that gets in
> the way, even though he things he is being helpful.
Ah, now I begin to understand. You want people to see a tantalising
glimpse of your software, but then to make it is so difficult to get
working without "packaging" that they all cry out "We want packaging".
However good (or bad) "packaging" might be, I'm not sure deliberately
making software difficult to use without it is the best way to
convince people. I seem to recall 'packaging' has been discussed many
times at length in the forums, and not everyone seemed to agree with
your view of how important it is. I don't think using brute force to
impose your views on people is the best way to go about things, but
maybe it will work.
To return to your analogy of a water supply miles away. The reason I,
and many like me, carry buckets of water back and forth is because not
only do we not have a pipe, but we also wouldn't know how to construct
the pipeline. I, for one, welcome Paul's efforts to produce a
'conveyor belt' for these buckets.
Can I appeal to you, then, as one of the few talented programmers RISC
OS has, to produce a Packaging Programme as your next project? Or to
offer your services to the 'RiscPkg' team to bring that to completion?
It's no good asking the likes of me, because although I'm more than
happy to test software, I am not a software author.
I don't think you can expect others to work on a project they are not
fully in favour of. I also don't think you will get support by your
current tactics. My reason for saying this is that there seems to be
little interest in such a project from those who have the skills to
help. I'm not saying 'packaging' isn't important - I'm questioning
your methods for convincing people that it is.
Personally, having seen a form of packaging at work on my Mac has
convinced me of its importance. Things like having to keep a close eye
on c.s.a.announce for messages like 'xyz has now been updated. Get it
from abc.co.uk and get this bit from here, and get that bit from
there' also convinces me. As do the frequent postings from people
saying 'what is the latest version of this module, or that software',
and comments like 'I've got version 0.83 - I didn't know it was now up
to version 2.45'. What puts me off 'packaging' is being told I need
it!
So the only part I can play at this stage is to appeal to programmers
to write such a system - so I appeal to you, Peter - please write such
a system. If you say 'no', then you can't criticise other developers
for also saying 'no', and RISC OS is the loser all round.
All in my humble opinion, of course.
--
Jeremy Brayshaw
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