AW: [Caml-list] GODI is shutting down

[Gerd Stolpmann <info@gerd-stolpmann.de>]

Am 23.07.2013 00:32:43 schrieb(en) Anil Madhavapeddy:
> On 22 Jul 2013, at 22:21, "Gerd Stolpmann" <info@gerd-stolpmann.de>  
> wrote:
> 
> > There is also another point that was driving me mad in the past  
> weeks,
> > namely missing respect from the OPAM guys. Given the fact that OPAM  
> is
> > only a thin layer around ocamlfind (and guess who wrote it), and  
> given the
> > fact that GODI was pioneering in many fields, I was expecting nicer
> > wordings, and less dumb campaigning ("we have 400 packages, and you  
> only
> > 170"). OPAM is only harvesting what I seeded many years ago.
> 
> So when you describe the virtues of GODI, you call it 'advocating',  
> and when
> Fabrice describes the virtues of OPAM, it's 'dumb campaigning'. This  
> is
> splendidly reminiscent of US politics!

I do not live in the US, so I have no idea what you are talking about.

> Anyway, I'm not a GODI user, but I think you're doing a disservice to  
> your
> loyal GODI users if you shut it down in a huff. There are features  
> (notably
> Windows support) where it'll take OPAM some time to catch up.  I  
> think that
> the real reason that you're shutting it is nothing to do with  
> "respect", but
> is good old-fashioned burnt-out:

If you mean that I'm alone not louder than the crowd, maybe call it  
burnout. At a certain point I noticed that arguments do not count  
anymore, and it doesn't matter what I do. So it doesn't make sense to  
put more energy into this project.

> > Although there are still a lot of GODI users, it is unavoidable to  
> shut GODI down due to lack of supporters, especially package  
> developers. I was more or less alone in the past months, and my time  
> contingent will not allow it to do the upgrade to OCaml 4.01 alone  
> (when it is released).
> 
> Instead of doing such a heroic solo job (which I'm not being funny  
> about --
> it really is a lot of work), why not spend the time to open up GODI  
> as well?
> 
> Most of the OPAM package descriptions come from *other people*. We  
> just review
> them, give feedback if necessary, click the merge button and fix  
> errors that
> creep through.  And even that takes up a surprising amount of time...

That's again campaign - you have absolutely no idea, but the reader of  
your lines will have the impression that GODI is a closed system only  
created by a single guy. Actually, most GODI packages were done by  
other people (well, initially at least, but many packages got orphaned  
over time). GODI is an open system, only that it's not as radically  
transparent as people are nowadays used to (i.e. there is no web site  
with user statistics, no public commit logs, no easy way to pull  
commits from other systems, no whatever other bells and whistles, and  
you needed to send me an email to register, old style). But the users  
had all freedom, including doing releases completely on their own (no  
pull request bureaucracy).

Gerd
-- 
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Gerd Stolpmann, Darmstadt, Germany    gerd@gerd-stolpmann.de
Creator of GODI and camlcity.org.
Contact details:        http://www.camlcity.org/contact.html
Company homepage:       http://www.gerd-stolpmann.de
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