yes, it was a lack of *any* notice; i occasionally check /n/sources/patch
for incoming patches and i don't believe the NSEC patch went through that
channel. in the past, changes that had a system-wide or kernel effect were
announce, and instructions for upgrading were given. certainly, it's not
required; but it is appreciated.

i believe any successful Plan 9 distro will need to provide some
transparency in the change review process. the sources patch process can
work, but with codereview extensions now available, it might make sense to
create/switch to a repository hosted on an hg site so that all the change
requests, discussions and reviews are available to everyone;  perhaps this
is what Charles had in mind for http://code.google.com/p/plan9, but i'm not
sure.

-Skip

On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 1:33 PM, Jeff Sickel <jas@corpus-callosum.com>wrote:

>
> On May 20, 2014, at 11:41 AM, ron minnich <rminnich@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > This is not a human communication problem. It's a technology problem,
> > trivially solved for many years now by many systems.
>
> This event was a communication problem.
>
> The technology, replica, works as advertised.  In general it does
> a very good job at maintaining server->client updates and allows
> you to work around differences in a way some may prefer over other
> options that are out there.
>
> The technology, Plan 9 (and forks), have rather clean mechanisms
> already in place to go through the classic development operation
> cycle of
>
>         think — edit — make — test ...
>
> The feedback loop, like all, requires communication protocols
> to complete the iteration and move the cycle to the next step.
>
> How many of those chromebooks have customized kernels to support
> drivers undergoing new development?  And of those that do run custom
> kernels, are they getting automatic updates w/o a bill of materials
> or other list defining what will be updated?  And are the developers
> working on those custom versions working in a vacuum or do they have
> communication protocols in place to facilitate their working environment?
>
> For all practical purposes, 9fans is the last remaining forum for people
> interested in using Plan 9 related systems.  Please advise if you have
> recommendations for other communications outlets that allow people to
> develop, test, and maybe improve on ideas brought about by this system
> many of us find enough interest in to actually use.
>
> -jas
>
>
>