[CentOS] This doesn't make sense

Sat Sep 24 02:32:07 UTC 2011
Emmanuel Noobadmin <centos.admin at gmail.com>

On 9/24/11, Lamar Owen <lowen at pari.edu> wrote:
> I don't think you understand.  The process is iterative; if QA fails it's
> all the way back up to building it again.  A package may have existed three
> weeks ago in terms of being built; if that package had passed binary testing
> and QA it would have been released by now.

I think most of us already understand this part due to the discussions
during the pre 6.0 release. The whole point is about the
communication.

> As to 'fun' entering into it, you also realize these guys are volunteers,
> right?  Make a volunteer's life too hard, and that volunteer stops
> volunteering.  These volunteers *owe* the users of CentOS *nothing*.  I'm
> just glad they've done what they've done.

I appreciate what the CentOS team has done. Certainly I wouldn't had
been able to offer the typical budget-constrained clients I get, the
equivalent of RHEL they are using now. That said, just because we're
doing volunteer work, does not mean we can be totally irresponsible. I
did and still do pro bono work for certain non-profit organisations in
my country. They understand perfectly that they aren't paying a cent
and have no right to make demands. Nevertheless they do have general
timelines and decisions that have to be made based on whether certain
features are ready or not. It is my responsibility to tell them if
something comes up and I cannot expect to implement certain things
within the original estimated time. They aren't going to get pissed,
they will either change their plans or seek additional help and be
thankful that I didn't kept mum until it's too late to do anything
constructive.

Similarly, I think that's what most of the people screaming are
expecting as the bare minimum. If a build goes to QA, just post an
update. If the build fails QA, post an update, we will understand that
probably means at least 2~3 weeks of delay, no biggie, there is info,
we can make plans and decisions. Everybody's cool. For just a 3 minute
effort, the devs won't have to waste time on replies when negativity
build up spills over.