Re: Review lags
Jan Rychter <jan(a)rychter.com> writes:
>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen J Turnbull
<stephen(a)xemacs.org> writes:
Stephen> If you want to help something to get done a lot faster,
Stephen> you can post a full patch (in the case of a new file,
Stephen> either a patch against /dev/null or the file as an
Stephen> attachment is OK), with appropriate XEmacs-format
Stephen> changelog, to XEmacs Patches <xemacs-patches(a)xemacs.org>.
[...]
I did just that about a year ago -- I posted a reasonably simple
patch that adds about 4 lines of code to the XEmacs code base. I
brought the issue up again about three weeks ago, and a couple of
days ago, but it seems continuous nagging doesn't get me anywhere.
The patch (mswindows window id property for XEmacs frames) is
necessary, because without it I cannot support people who want to
use my vx-mode package for dictation with XEmacs under Windows. As
it is, my user base is limited to people who use Linux and run
Dragon NaturallySpeaking under VMware, a rather rare combination.
I'm getting increasingly disappointed -- I initially switched to
XEmacs because I found the developer community to be more responsive
and code would change quicker. I hate sending those nagging E-mails,
it annoys the developers, it annoys me, and causes people to dislike
me for no good reason. Should I just give up, rework vx-mode to use
properties instead of extents and switch to FSF Emacs?
I understand "being short-handed for developers", but this attitude
will cause even more developers to go elsewhere.
The keyword here is "developer". If you are a developer, try getting
CVS access. The person checking the code in has to take the moral
responsibility for fixing it in case something breaks. So things just
work out faster if you do it yourself instead of trying to make
somebody else do it.
Once you get the code into XEmacs, it will usually be released within
a few months. Once you get some code into Emacs, it will usually be
released within a few years. Except that quite a number of serious
users don't wait for releases and use developer snapshots.
Getting some code into Emacs for the purpose of providing a
Windows-only feature will not sit well with Richard Stallman. You
might as well forget it. So you will first have to think of a general
pattern of use that would make it good for applications under Unixy
operating systems too, get yourself or somebody else to implement it
there, and then add the Windows functionality with the same interface.
Personally, I found working on Emacs and with Emacs developers
decidedly less aggravating than what I experienced with XEmacs. But
tastes differ, and your particular demands do not exactly sound like
you'd likely be overenthused with the Emacs development model, either.
--
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum