[CentOS-devel] progress?

On Fri, 18 Feb 2011, Ljubomir Ljubojevic wrote:

> js wrote:
>>> If you don't like it .. don't use it.
>>
>> You don't understand, I think, the meaning of my email:
>> When someone said "Ok, buy a RH license" to end a discussion and don't
>> talk about problems
>> is just not a good approch.
>
> What problems? CentOS is/will be only 3-4 weeks behind Oracle
> Unbreakable Linux, and 0-2 weeks behind Scientific Linux, in both cases
> with PAID developers. So about WHAT problems are you talking about?
>
>> My mail is not (to be clear) against Centos, but against those who use
>> the "do it yourself" just to shutdown all
>> argument  :)
>
> We understand it EXTREMELY well. First of all, just to be clear, I have
> not contributed to the CentOS project in any measurable way. I did
> create public repo for CentOS desktop apps and I did create/recompiled
>  40-50 packages for CentOS in last few years, but no one ever contacted
> me about it, and MAYBE 2-3 developers ever browsed it.
>
> Having that in mind, I claim that if you do not like how this (or any
> other open source project) is managed, it's speed of releases or any
> other aspect, you have 3 options:
> 1. Contribute your time and knowledge to that project.
> 2. Create a fork of the project and contribute your time and knowledge
> to that project.
> 3. After negative response to initial question(s) about things becoming
> better use it but do not complain any more.
>
> You can hold someone responsible for not making your life better only in
> the degree of how much you (or someone else in your name) paid him. If
> he is not paid for it, you have NO MORAL RIGHT to complaint to him
> (after initial complaint).

You prove my point quite elegantly. I did spend a lot of time promoting 
CentOS and helped where I was allowed to help, I tried to get people 
involved in CentOS, did presentations, helped with the wiki, and genuinly 
tried to solve problems within the project. But things get blocked at the 
same level, so if you cannot get anything to move from within the project 
after 4 years, because things always block at the same level and nobody is 
prepared to fix that, there's nothing really left.

And from the people involved, I am not the only one who does complain, 
there are people in the CentOS team that have the same complaints (but 
prefer to stay in the team nevertheless), there are volunteers outside of 
the team with exactly the same objections who feel disappointed, but still 
contribute. I have a lot of respect for these people even though you 
should be able to discuss what's going wrong.

Hence my cynical reply.

If the project doesn't want to change, that's fine, but then don't try to 
find excuses or attack the messenger. Simply state those goals clearly.

-- 
-- dag wieers, dag at wieers.com, http://dag.wieers.com/
-- dagit linux solutions, info at dagit.net, http://dagit.net/

[Any errors in spelling, tact or fact are transmission errors]