[haiku] Re: please keep non-GSoC comments out of these threads; was [GSsC] usermode Haiku or file system development

  • From: Ryan Leavengood <leavengood@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: haiku@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:11:24 -0400

Like Stephan I'm only now reading through this long thread. I agree
with him that Matt's email was not appropriate and I can see why it
would insult Jorge. Don't attribute my silence to condoning anything
in this thread...I was just busy.

If we can try to extract anything productive out of this thread I
think it would be to acknowledge that Haiku as a project does have
some faults. It is volunteer-driven, and as such, it may not move at a
pace that everyone likes. Also as a primarily developer-driven project
it may take longer for it to be "finished" for a release because of
the detailed-oriented nature of developers, who want everything to be
just right. Of course there still is a need to put a stake in the
ground and figure out what is good enough for a release, otherwise it
will never be released. Believe me that the developers and the people
who are involved with Haiku, Inc understand this.

In fact, we have literally put our money (or rather the generous
contributions of the community) where our mouth is and hired Ingo
Weinhold for a month specifically for the task of working on issues
that will help prepare Haiku for the R1 alpha 2 release. Ingo, like
Stephan, is making a bit of a sacrifice to work at a rate much, much
below what he might otherwise be paid as a contractor. By doing so he
will also be willing to be directed a bit more than he might otherwise
as a volunteer, and this can help us be more focused in addressing
issues that hold up the release.

PulkoMandy has also stepped up to dedicate 2 months of his summer in a
new form of the Haiku Code Drive. He will be paid to finish up as much
as he can of the Locale Kit project which he started in GSoC and which
he continued over the last year.

The point is, Haiku as a project is doing what it can to keep a focus
on the alpha 2 release. As has been explained previously in this
thread, it doesn't make much sense to use GSoC for projects which are
core to Haiku R1 or the alpha 2 release. As someone who has been
involved in GSoC for 5 years, let me tell you that it can be very hit
or miss. Sometimes we get brilliant and very dedicated students who do
a great job and really help move Haiku forward, but unfortunately more
often we get students who either don't complete their project at all,
or who create something which really isn't all that useful or of high
enough quality for the project. Such is life.

GSoC much first be seen as a project to involve student's in open
source, secondly as a way to get potential new contributors, and then
lastly as a way to implement important Haiku features. Only after 5
years am I starting to come to grips with this reality :)

-- 
Regards,
Ryan

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