From owner-freebsd-hackers Wed Dec 10 10:13:01 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id KAA04034 for hackers-outgoing; Wed, 10 Dec 1997 10:13:01 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers) Received: from www.cep.yale.edu (www.cep.yale.edu [130.132.125.66]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id KAA03991 for ; Wed, 10 Dec 1997 10:12:35 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from mrami@www.cep.yale.edu) Received: from localhost (mrami@localhost) by www.cep.yale.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA20037; Wed, 10 Dec 1997 13:11:55 -0500 (EST) Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 13:11:55 -0500 (EST) From: Marc Ramirez To: The Classiest Man Alive cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why so many steps to build new kernel? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Wed, 10 Dec 1997, The Classiest Man Alive wrote: > > > Why is it that every time somebody suggests making a script or GUI utility > to automate some boring but necessary UNIX process, [...] > > I swear, you all are going to drive me to learn C. I don't think these people make up the majority of the FreeBSD camp by any stretch. I think most people would echo my sentiments (if not my standpoint). My first "programming project" was when I was a little kid. My dad wanted me to write a program to tally up the balance sheets for his plumbing company. I did, and he used it for a couple of months, and then one day he asked me, "I wonder if there's any way for me to go back to the last number I entered if I make a mistake." I was then hooked on UI's. :) I am a born applications programmer. I love hashing out the details, spending three weeks QA'ing a program it took two days to write. When I write a solid app, I strut around the city beating my chest. If I could, I would gladly sit down and bang out any configuration utility FreeBSD could use. However, between being a CS major and a sysadmin, anything I start would have, oh, a five to six month turnaround. :) Right now, I'm not sure that's an investment I'm prepared to make unless, say, Jordan would guarantee that my work would be used. And I certainly wouldn't put Jordan in that position, considering he's never seen my work. :) :) And here you run smack into the problem faced by all volunteer projects, causing users to gripe and programmers to be irritated. Marc. -- Quidem, D! Omnis bonus est!