Re: vista - Mailing list pgsql-general

So...

If you're not a PostgreSQL Win32 port dev, and *don't know* what they're
up to as far as Vista, why respond to the Q?  Or why respond "fix it
yourself" instead of "ask this guy" or "nobody here will know yet" or
"post your query on -ports or -hackers".

Otherwise it's as useful as saying "http://justgoogleit.com/" or "check
the man pages".  While technically a correct response, it's not a very
useful one and certainly not what the poster was asking, yes?  It's like
a "SELECT * ..." statement returning a single row with an asterisk in
it.  Gee, thanks for the tautology.

Heck, even "check CVS change logs" would be more useful.  Presumably *a*
person on the dev team will handle it eventually.  And it's not
unreasonable to expect that somebody, somewhere has asked the same
question to the dev team and that they *might* know something about the
state of PG on that platform.

Frankly, I too could care less about PG on Vista.  Longhorn isn't due
until Vista SP1, so PG support has a long time to go before it's a real
concern.  But then I didn't try to answer the question.


--
Brandon Aiken
CS/IT Systems Engineer
-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-general-owner@postgresql.org
[mailto:pgsql-general-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Chris Browne
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 12:16 PM
To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] vista

naz@mira.net (Naz Gassiep) writes:
>> It's the folks who think that non-Windows-using developers should
care
>> about Vista that bug me.  This is open-source code, people.  Scratch
>> your own itch.
>>
> The "scratch your own itch" line can only be pushed so far, if it is
> being said by a developer who works on a project that desires to be
> taken seriously by professionals in industry. For minor features, yes,
> perhaps it could be argued that the core team could ignore certain
> issues, and just wait for a patch. For something like Vista
> compatibility, if you want to be taken seriously by anyone who uses
> Windows (hands up anyone who knows a Windows user), "scratch your own
> itch" is not really going to cut it, IMHO. I'm used to getting that
> line when talking to 2 developer obscure projects that have a userbase
> of a half a dozen, but for a project like PostgreSQL, the "they tell
> you to do it yourself" brush is one we do NOT want to get tarred with.
>
> If we don't have the resources to cope with a Vista port immediately
> then so be it. If it's low priority, so be it. However, lets not
> appear to deride as unnecessary that which we cannot immediately
> provide a solution to. That's small time project mentality.

Well, the same issue has come up with the subproject that I work on,
namely Slony-I, and the nature of things seems much the same.

*I* don't use Windows, haven't got any relevant build environment,
and, organizationally, really couldn't care less if PostgreSQL or
Slony-I runs on Windows or not, as Windows isn't a relevant platform.
Asking me about Windows support in *any* context is pretty much
useless; as far as I'm concerned, Windows support requires finding
someone who has that particular itch.

It turns out that there are people with a Windows itch, and I haven't
turned away patches to provide Windows support due to its irrelevance
to me.  No, I'm pleased enough to see that come in.

But if you present Windows-related issues to me, I see nothing
improper in saying "scratch your own itch."  I'm *not* the right one
to help, and the community is large enough that I don't see any
problem with that.
--
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