Re: Temprary issue gripes(was:Re: cvs problem) - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

On Monday 08 October 2001 09:37 pm, John Summerfield wrote:
> I don't see for whom the long name would be a problem; certainly if
> it has been that way for five years, it couldn't have been a serious
> problem.

Ask Marc why he changed it.

> > > > Correction: Marc Fournier controls the entire disk layout, as it's
> > > > his server.  It was his decision to change the layout.

> > > Is Marc part of the team?

> > Reference the developers listing on developer.postgresql.org.

> yes or no? I don't have web access at present. He contributes to
> discussions, so I guess in at least some sense he is.

He is one of the six core developers; maintains the postgresql.org server 
(which he donates); maintains the network bandwidth which we all enjoy; 
coordinates releases; runs the mailing list, ftp, web, CVS, CVSup, and 
nesgroup services; is President of PostgreSQL, Inc, who provides first-rate 
commercial support for PostgreSQL; is chief cook and bottlewasher; and 
anything else I may have left out.  He is one of the first four who took the 
also-ran Postgres95 and turned it into the real database known as PostgreSQL.

So, yes, I guess you could say he's part of the team... :-)

> > > Instead of telling me how to go on with my affairs, there ensured a
> > > discussion about the documentation being wrong, about the devlopers
> > > corner shouldn't really be there and so on.

> > Because your report was a symptom of a larger problem -- that of the
> > automatically generated pages not generating properly.  Fix the cause,
> > not the symptom.

> No reason at all to make people wait for thich incantation. Someone had the
> correct information. Probably a minute to find it and incorproate it
> in a response.

Did  you or did you not post the question to pgsql-hackers?  This list isn't 
for just telling people how to solve problems -- that is what admin, general, 
ports, etc are for.  The hackers list is the developers list, where the 
developers talk through development problems.  So, directly answering your 
question wasn't the top priority -- fixing the larger problem was.

> However, I do need reasonable support from the developers, and I was only
> seeking a a modest amount of support.

If you're going to run CVS or even beta versions, you had better be ready to 
do alot of your own support. I'm not trying to be mean or arrogant, either -- 
if a change in CVSROOT and a lack of docs is too upsetting, wait on the final 
release, or a release candidate, where things are much more polished.  
Bleeding edge sometimes cuts -- and I've been there.

> I don't ordinarily have web access. Archives are inconvenient. And, in
> my experience, somewhat hard to use. It can be hard to find a specific
> topic - too many synomyms - and often they're too voluminous, and unless
> you have a high-bandwidth service (I don't) slow.

I can sympathize to an extent with that, but I again have to go back to what 
irked me -- you made an uninformed critical remark that had nothing to do 
with your question.  Don't make critical remarks about a process or project 
of which workings you are ignorant.  That isn't meant to be demeaning -- I 
try to follow that very same advice, as it was given to me long ago by none 
other than Jonathan Kamens.  And it takes more than just a couple of weeks 
reading the list to get familiar with the workingsof a project this size.

That's really all I have to say about that on-list.
-- 
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
1 Peter 4:11