Re: Request for comment -- a better attribution system

Eric S. Raymond
2001-04-22T03:39:15Z

Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>:
> 99.9999% of problems don't involve querying the set of maintainers of
> Confg.in files. The system is optimised to the general case of queries people
> need to make. It also happens to be accessible to people who are not
> kernel gurus because it uses roughly English terms for the maintainership
> and area.
>
> The .0001% case isnt interesting. Thats the difference between real world
> systems and theory.

Again with due respect, you haven't gotten it yet. In fact, you've
got it exactly backwards. Unsurprising -- you're so magnificently
well adapted to the way things are that certain limiting assumptions
of the system you operate in have become invisible to you.

What you call a rare case is rare not because it *should* be rare but because
the work practices and social mechanisms of lkml combine to heavily discourage
improvements that cross jurisdictional boundaries.

This is a *problem*. I won't belabor the point, because I am certain
that you'll believe the conclusion more if you figure it out yourself than
if I tell you. Hint: think about long-term coherency issues in large
codebases. Think hard.
--
Eric S. Raymond

.. a government and its agents are under no general duty to
provide public services, such as police protection, to any
particular individual citizen...
-- Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. App.181)