thanks.
On 20.07.2014 02:12, Brian L. Stuart wrote:
My whole argument goes about the following hypotheses:
1. increasing the amount of contributions may not scale in
the current model.
2. submitting trivial contributions is not trivial for the
contributor.
Both of these points seem to come from a mental model
that just doesn't apply to Plan 9. In earlier messages, you
used the word team to describe the set of people contributing
to Plan 9. However, in reality, there isn't a Plan 9 team, per
se. Essentially, Plan 9 is a research system. It's a platform
and a vehicle for doing systems research. It is true that it
has been very useful as the basis of products, as infrastructure,
and as a daily-use OS. However, rather than being its raison
d'etre, Plan 9's utility is a tribute to and the acid test of the
research work done on it. After all, I'm hardly going to suggest
that a file system I develop is worthy of study or use if I'm
not willing to put my own data on it. (So yes, my main file
server is running on thetafs, and has been for months.)
Given that the primary function of Plan 9 is to be a research
system, neither increasing numbers of contributions nor
trivial contributions are to be expected. In fact, it's not
clear they would be particularly desirable.
The flip side of all this is that because it has been very useful,
many of us use it heavily enough that we'd be loathe to
return to a world where we'd have to do without it. So there
is valid motivation to expand the set of supported hardware,
fix bugs, make it easier to install and use, etc. While, I'm
not in a position to speak for the principals involved, from
my perspective, both 9atom and 9front are laregely so
motivated. I don't think I'm speaking out of turn when I say
that the maintainers of both of those systems would be more
than happy to accept contributions to them. If, in the course
of making such contributions, you reach a point where the
contribution channel could be improved, then contributing
an improved contribution mechanism would be just as welcome,
I suspect.
In other words, welcome to the Plan 9 community. We'll
be glad to help you however we can. We encourage and
look forward to seeing any contributions you make that
emerge from what captures your interest.
BLS
