From owner-freebsd-ports@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 3 17:21:33 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43B6416A417; Mon, 3 Dec 2007 17:21:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ade@lovett.com) Received: from mail.lovett.com (foo.lovett.com [67.134.38.158]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2C0D313C4DB; Mon, 3 Dec 2007 17:21:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from ade@lovett.com) Received: from inferno.canal.lovett.com ([172.16.32.23]:65048) by mail.lovett.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES128-SHA:128) (Exim 4.68 (FreeBSD)) (envelope-from ) id 1IzEz6-000ILk-7O; Mon, 03 Dec 2007 09:21:32 -0800 Message-Id: <7957A7E2-3ADA-4BD5-934C-F10A1F08F72F@FreeBSD.org> From: Ade Lovett To: Aryeh M. Friedman In-Reply-To: <47543109.3050303@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v915) Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 09:21:31 -0800 References: <200712030308.32301.david@vizion2000.net> <3BC04A18-86CD-4A93-831A-691EBD8D4A43@FreeBSD.org> <47543109.3050303@gmail.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.915) Sender: ade@lovett.com Cc: David Southwell , freebsd-ports@freebsd.org, Ade Lovett Subject: Re: [RFC/P] Port System Re-Engineering X-BeenThere: freebsd-ports@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting software to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:21:33 -0000 On Dec 03, 2007, at 08:38 , Aryeh M. Friedman wrote: > Coding before the problem is well understood is the worst of all > possible solutions... Congratulations on snipping the relevant part of my email which indicated how fundamentally flawed your "survey" was. Until such time as you understand the concept of self-indicatory statistics, which, by their very nature, exclude most of the relevant population, in this case, the consumers of the FreeBSD ports and packaging system, then you're doomed to failure. > specifically in many ways thats how to the port > system got into such a bad state.... Further congratulations on a single sentence that, whilst you may not realize it, tramples all over the not inconsiderable amount of time that a large number of folks have supplied, for free, for your benefit. Just exactly what have you done for FreeBSD to the point where you believe you are able to state such a sentence? I certainly wouldn't dream of writing something like this -- you can check ports/ commit logs for my background. > I have plenty ideas but am > purposefully not stating them so as not to color responses to the > survey.... basically the idea is start assume that we know nothing and > gather data without passing judgment and refine stuff based on what we > find until there is a set of features and perhaps even a roughed out > framework that we can be agreed on by the large majority of people... > *ONLY* then can we start to examine what kind of code is even needed. So, like I said before, start a wiki. Mailing lists do not work for this kind of collaborative study. That has already been proven time and time again. The thought of developing some kind of new-technology system, using a really rather outmoded form of communication, particularly given recent advances in such "social engineering", does seem to pose something of a conundrum. > Aryeh M. Friedman > FloSoft Systems > Developer, not business, friendly Not business friendly? Sorry, son, in which case you're screwed. You're full of talk about how things should be more user-orientated, yet use this as your tagline? Which are you? Developer, or business (and thus, by association, user) friendly? Make up your mind. -aDe