Hello;
Well, as you might imagine I am really tired of the flame storm that went around the 0 ^ 0 issue. My intention here is not at all to re-start that discussion. I really have much more fun things to do. I am actualy a fan of Clint Eastwood so let me remember one of my favorite movies ever. THE GOOD It didn't really take me long but I found a technical solution for the dilemma. - The numerical issues were caused by a copy-paste error where the C++ wrapper used int for the exponent instead of a double. Once found it was trivial to fix. - Considering the "vetos" I still think they are invalid but I think they both reflect a community concern so I have addressed it. The new patch [1] now defines in SAL's math.h the following: #define SAL_STRICTER_MATH This currently only affects the power function and acts as a sort of "excel compatibility" flag. This is very simple at this time but it fulfills it's task: you can easily change the behaviour during compile time. It is actually an advance because having this in SAL gives us control: our current behavior is platform dependent. THE UGLY The discussion so far has been centered around the default. I consider myself agnostic in this case: I think that it is better to use the stricter criteria and be compatible with MS Excel. A lot of people worry about compatibility issues. With my FreeBSD hat on, I think in the unsupported platforms (FreeBSD, OS2, Solaris) the compatibility issue isn't really a concern (the ASF has never provided officially binaries) but the Excel behaviour is useful for interoperability. I think the best option would be if existing users take a decision before release what behaviour the want and if the case is to revert we can add something like #if defined(WINOS) || defined(MACOSX) || defined(LINUX) #defined SAL_STRICTER_MATH #endif You get the idea. Doing this is rather ugly but I can live with it as at least windows and MacOSX have the option to use Excel if they want to be serious about math. I guess we could add it as a configure option but we already have too many of them and even then there has to be a default. This is something I think the comunity has to decide on by voting before the release. I won't take the decision but since I take care for FreeBSD, I think we will opt for the Excel compatibility (I do have to consult with Maho though). THE BAD (Please stop reading here if you are sensible to non-technical issues) First I should thank Greg Stein for clarifying the correct sense and reach of the veto. I also want to thank people that have expressed their support in private or public. It is clear to me that we are still too young as a community in AOO and that people still have a long way to learn in matters of behaviour. I am not as much disappointed by the discussion (which I think doesn't correspond to the impact of the patch) but by the fact that I was not given the chance to work on it and that I have been insulted in the process. I strongly complained when Dave's commit was reverted and I find it absolutely unacceptable in the way it was done with me. First of all the harassment: I am a volunteer, I am not here to receive something in the lines of "Revert now or else ...", and second the lack of respect for my work. It *is* rude, really ... I *don't* care much what happens with the patch, if it should be disabled or not, but I DO want respect. I think I deserve reparation for the commit reversal: this shouldn't have happened. I request the code be restated as it should have never been reverted in the first place. This is all symbolical as there is a new version. Once the new version is in, I will let anyone else decide if you guys want to ifdef it or add a configure option or whatever: I don't really want to be involved in this anymore. I also want an assurance that this will never *ever* happen again (I am talking about the revert, I guess bikesheds are unavoidable). If people really don't like my patches (yes, according to the Berne convention I do own them) I will take them with me but I prefer if there is a civilized discussion and not this circus we have been experiencing these last days. Pedro. [1] http://people.apache.org/~pfg/patches/patch-power00
