[Buildroot] Buildroot 2009.02 released

[Peter Korsgaard <jacmet@uclibc.org>]

>>>>> "Ulf" == Ulf Samuelsson <ulf.samuelsson@atmel.com> writes:

Hi,

 >> Sure, like with all other issues - Add an issue to the tracker or
 >> mail the list, both preferably with a patch.

 Ulf> You REALLY dont get it , do you?

No, I think it's pretty obvious that I don't follow you.

 Ulf> If you for once stopped seeing Buildroot as a hobby
 Ulf> and take the view of someone wanting to build 
 Ulf> a root file system without digging deep into 
 Ulf> the internals of Buildroot, then you would realize
 Ulf> that Bugzilla is NOT the way this shoudl be communicated.

You seem to be mixing up developer/contributor communication such as
mailing list/bugzilla and some kind of known issues list for a release
(E.G. stuff that belongs in the release notes).

Issues needs to be reported / patches sent to the developers if you
want to get them solved - E.G. this is absolutely critical to improve
BR quality.

And sure, it could be that we decide to ship with known issues and
those should get mentioned in the release notes, but most of all we
try to fix all bugs we KNOW ABOUT.

 Ulf> Once it is discovered that there is a problem, there is no clean
 Ulf> way to inform the user that there is a problem with a certain
 Ulf> package so each new user will waste a lot of time trying
 Ulf> to build what is known to be broken.

That's what releases are for - With a 3 month release cycle I don't
see any real reason for casual / first time users to go to svn.

 >> Well, if you mail the list or add an issue, there is.

 Ulf> Not in a usable format.

For the developers it is.

 Ulf> There are dependencies on the host distribution.
 Ulf> I have seen that some packages sometimes use the host includes.

 Ulf> If the host includes do things in the same way as the buildroot
 Ulf> includes that should have been used, then the build can
 Ulf> complete, even though the package is inherently BROKEN.

 Ulf> If they are different, then the build breaks.

Yes, bug reports and patches are welcome.

 >> >> Sure, but please be a bit more specific.

 Ulf> I think we should create a range of rootfs definitions
 Ulf> with reasonable combinations for testing purposes.

 Ulf> * Busybox only.
 Ulf> * A communications oriented (no graphics)
 Ulf>   Maybe an Internet Radio /Audio player
 Ulf> * DirectFB with a simple touch interface
 Ulf> * X-Windows

 Ulf> This should be tested on multiple distributions
 Ulf> (Ubuntu/Fedora/OpenSuSE etc.).

Are you offering to do this? As always, talk is cheap and actions
speak louder than words.

 >> Heh, I would certainly prefer to spend our energy on actually
 >> fixing stuff than arguing about how to show what's
 >> broken. Everything broken is a bug, and bugs should get fixed.

 Ulf> That is because either you do not care about others
 Ulf> or you do not grip the situation.

I don't see you helping people on the mailing list or fixing issues in
the bugtracker, so don't give me that 'you don't care about others'.

 Ulf> Do you think that if buildroot was a commercial tool
 Ulf> that people would accept your opinion, or would they
 Ulf> go to someone more interested in their problems?

People are free to go elsewhere (so are you), that's the basic concept
of open source.

 Ulf> I want to spend my energy on making it easier for people 
 Ulf> without too much knowledge to get an embedded linux system
 Ulf> running and telling people up front what works and does not work
 Ulf> is key to get acceptance.

 Ulf> Bugs needs to be fixed, as time permits,
 Ulf> but if that is the only support provided, then this
 Ulf> is no tool for anything but hobbyists like yourself.

Hobbyist == care about quality? Yes, then I'm definately a hobbyist.

 >> Again, please use the bug tracker.
 >> 
 >> I'm not against doing more structured build tests, and will look into
 >> getting buildbot running again with some sensible defconfigs soonish,
 >> but that shouldn't stop you or anyone else from reporting (and fixing)
 >> bugs.

 Ulf> It is not enough to report and fix bugs.

No, that's why I'm doing releases - Nevertheless, fixing bugs is
absolutely critical. Are you going to contribute or just continue
to make noise on the list?

-- 
Bye, Peter Korsgaard