Re: [MiNT] MiNT and MetaDOS

["Guido Flohr" <gufl0000@stud.uni-sb.de>]

Hi,

On Wed, May 10, 2000 at 12:38:25AM +0200, Thomas Binder wrote:
> > If everything is gonna be decided between Frank, yourself and Guido,
> > we might as well discontinue this mailing list...
> 
> You over-estimate my involvement in kernel development for sure. Aside

Mine too. ;-)

> from that, the main problem with discussing things here before doing
> something is that up to now posting a proposal has quite often just led
> to lengthy threads with no real result - something I wouldn't consider
> speeding up the development process, if done for each and every change
> that might have some negative effects ...
> 
> Besides, beta versions (and the problem with SPIN! arose in a beta
> version) are there to be tested - not to be used as a simple replacement
> for the current release version. If something doesn't work with a beta,
> report it. And if someone reports a problem, please inform yourself
> about the background before yelling about bad, bad breaking changes.

Besides: Frank is the maintainer of almost all current filesystems.  If
the XFS API turns out to be unsufficient, why not change it instead of
implementing possibly expansive backward-compatibility-hacks?  As long as
Frank provides updates for his XFS's I can see no real problem
there.  Remember that he never asked to take over maintainance for all
these XFS.  He has either continued abandonned projects or has developped
them himself.  He is more or less the maintainer of a closed system and
this is actually very good luck for all of us, since it makes overdue
changes very easy.

One exception is SPIN! but Julian isn't the person that opposes progress
and he has always reacted as quick as possible to unexpected problems.

Backwards compatibility is ok but it shouldn't be made a fetish.  The
compatibility hysteria is a major brake for MiNT.  It is about time to
accept that not all rules set up back in 1985 fit into today's world,
computer ages count in months, not in decades.  There are enough relevant
and current standards that MiNT does not fulfill.  No need to care more
than the absolute minimum about standards set up by a company that has
died a long time ago from its inability to change.

Ciao

Guido
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