Re: [9fans] Balancing Progress and Accessibility in the Plan 9 Community. (Was: [9fans] Interoperating between 9legacy and 9front)

["qwx via 9fans" <9fans@9fans.net>]

On Sun May 12 14:43:17 +0200 2024, vester.thacker@fastmail.fm wrote:
> I don't mind the ad hominem attacks.  I just hope things improve. I do find it ironic that I'm addressing the 9front community about collaboration and inclusiveness when I recall those as being two reasons for the inception of 9front.  
> 
> Vic

You hit the nail on the head there.  Why *are* you addressing just the
9front community or assuming there is no willingness to collaborate on
its part?  9legacy users so far have expressed interest in someone
else porting dp9ik (David for instance) or demanded explanations about
DES cracking (Richard) or asked for others to port or fix fossil on
9front (Lucio), but who explicitely said that they would like to put
in some work themselves and collaborate with 9front people?  Maybe I'm
beginning to misremember the rest of the thread, am I missing
anything?  Could you point to *specific examples*?

9front users demand code because they've already put in a lot of work
and it has been often ignored or dismissed, and because it would be up
to them to backport it to 9legacy -- why would they do double duty for
a system they don't use and a community which is generally not
receptive to their work?  Also, do you realize that 9front right now
has upwards of 10500 changes in the repository, after 13 years?
Bringing 9legacy up to date as you've proposed would require a
colossal amount of work, all just to obtain...  9front.  Do you
believe it has diverged to the point where backporting hardware
support, fixing bugs and broken or incomplete implementations and so
on will result in anything other than what 9front already is?

You yourself demand everyone, especially the 9front community, to make
suggestions, start projects, etc.  What about you?  What do you
suggest to do and which projects would you take part in?  That's what
"just send the code" implies.  Promises don't fix bugs or help
implement programs, nor help fix this one-sided conversation.

I'm asking these questions yet I fear that they will meet radio
silence or more empty walls of text, as it happens too often here
when asking "why" or how it came to this.  I hope I'm wrong.

Thanks,
qwx

PS: I was about to hit send when I received Richard's mail.
Richard, thank you for the constructive and detailed response.
I hope this marks a turn of the tide.

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