there is no kernel of any OS that I know that only one person decide usualy there are few people and a voting involved. not mention that not EVERY patch goes to the that person
Ely Levy System group Hebrew University Jerusalem Israel On Thu, 7 Feb 2002, Shlomi Fish wrote: > On Thu, 7 Feb 2002, Ely Levy wrote: > > > he actualy is, > > but he is more control freak than anything else. > > one person deciding all about the kernel.. > > no one knows everything well enough to do it > > certanly not him.. > > > > I have to disagree here.I know that Linus is the ultimate authority on > what goes into the Linus' kernel and what stays out. I also know there are > several other trees floating around. I think someone has to decide what > goes in and stay out of there, and it might as well be him. > > When one is working on any software project with a large codebase, there > should be an architect who decides what features or re-factorings will be > done and when. One of my OS programming rules states that "The number of > items on a project's to-dolist always grows or remains constant." One > cannot put everything possible in the Linux kernel at the same time, and > survive to tell the tale, you have to say something like: ReiserFS in, kdb > out, asynchronous IO - never, feature X - will be postponedto the 2.7.x > development tree. > > I'm not entirely happy with all of Linus' technical decisions regarding > the kernel, but someone has to be the kernel architect. Using a source > control system enables having the rejected or temporarily rejected patches > in a separate branch, which helps making sure that maintaining a common > codebase is not a hopeless situation. > > I'm not sure if it's a very good analogy, but I also have to make > decisions on what goes in and stays out of the current Freecell Solver > development tree. I sometimes get feedback from other people (usually > power users or those who look or use the code) that a certain feature > should be implemented before the rest. But the final decision is mine. > > It could be a bad analogy because it's a much smaller code base than the > Linux kernel or similar projects, and I'm practically the only one who > modifies the code. Incidently I don't use a source control system but > rather keep an archive for every version. I'd like to start using CVS, > though, but it's not critical IMO, because of the reasons states above. > > Regards, > > Shlomi Fish > > > > > > Ely Levy > > System group > > Hebrew University > > Jerusalem Israel > > > > > > > > On Wed, 6 Feb 2002, Shlomi Fish wrote: > > > > > On 6 Feb 2002, Oleg Goldshmidt wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > Well, it seems that The Great Kernel CVS Mutiny led Linus to > > > > BitKeeper... > > > > > > > > http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/02/06/1341250&mode=thread > > > > > > > > > > I should add that by "CVS" I meant any decent source control system and > > > BitKeepter seems to fit this description. This is definitely good news. I > > > don't know what role my post played in Linus' decision, though. > > > > > > The point of the mutiny was that people should have abandoned the original > > > way of maintaining the patches, regardless of Linus' approval. But now > > > that he uses it himself, there isn't much point in it. It's good to know > > > Linus is not as senseless and stubborn as I believed he was, originally. > > > > > > I discovered other things I don't like about the waythe kernel was > > > maintained since the original mutiny call, but they are relatively minor > > > in comparison to using a source control system. > > > > > > Regards, > > > > > > Shlomi Fish > > > > > > There is no IGLU Cabal! They had to maintain a codebase the size of the > > > Linux kernel, and could not use a source control because the project > > > leader was religiously opposed to it. This caused disorder and confusion, > > > and nobody thought of starting "The Great IGLU Cabal CVS Mutiny". > > > > > > > -- > > > > Oleg Goldshmidt | [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > "If it ain't broken, it has not got enough features yet." > > > > > > > > ================================================================= > > > > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > > > > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > > > > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Home Page: http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/ > > > Home E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > "Let's suppose you have a table with 2^n cups..." > > > "Wait a second - is n a natural number?" > > > > > > > > > ================================================================= > > > To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > > > the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command > > > echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Shlomi Fish [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Home Page: http://t2.technion.ac.il/~shlomif/ > HomeE-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "Let's suppose you have a table with 2^n cups..." > "Wait a second - is n a natural number?" > > ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]