Subject: Re: bidi status report
From: Dom Lachowicz (doml@appligent.com)
Date: Wed Dec 12 2001 - 13:45:19 CST
Hi Tomas,
> That is true about BeOs and QNX, but there should be a few
> problems in this respect, my estimate is that 95% of the bidi code
> is XP, and virtually all the non-XP code is to do with dialogues, but
> that is not the real issue here.
Fair enough. This wasn't really a hanging point for me. In fact, your
whole "rant" never contradicted a single point of mine and mostly just
let out your frustrations. Sounded like you needed it.
I do realize that the BiDi build is probably not getting stress-tested
enough for *any* of our likings, mine included. But whether we should
make our users be those stress testers is an entirely different matter.
For the record, I would *not* be opposed to making BiDi the default
build in DEBUG builds only. That way, you'll potentially get more
feedback from people like Hub, Martin, and myself, and this could
definitely be useful. The reason I say "potentially" here is that:
1) I don't ever do BiDi work, so my tests will be even more of a "toy"
level than yours are
2) I probably wouldn't know what to look for even if I was able to test
So basically, even if this was on by default, all I could report is that
my toy test-suite worked and it didn't fsck up anything in my normal
mono-di writing mode. I imaging that this is the same for Hub and
Martin, though I may be wrong.
So even if we turn this on by default in DEBUG builds, we're still not
gaining much (if anything) in terms of bug reports and usability info
for you. Those who download CVS and play with BiDi will continue to do
so. Those who don't probably don't know what to look for, and therefore
are of little use to you.
We all have our reasons for working on the projects that we do. I
started working on wv because I was just recently in college and needed
to read/print MSWord documents. wv saved my ass quite a few times when I
had to read/print a DOC and I was staring at a Solaris box in my
computer lab... wv->Netscape->lpr did the trick. I also was a literature
and germanic lit/language minor and had to write a huge amount of papers
over the last 4 years, starting with ~Abi 0.5.3. I've honestly probably
logged more hours typing into AbiWord as a user than anyone on the
planet.
But none of this is really important. We all contribute in ways that
make us happy. In the end, even our most selfless acts are selfish.
I'd love to help make the BiDi team larger, but I don't see how this
suggestion will accomplish that.
> I think the bottom line of this rant is, that if there are communites
> and individuals out there who want or need the bidi development to
> progress steadily forward in the month and years to come, then
> they will have to chip in. I suppose this is why yesterday's rant by
> Jesper struck so much chord with me.
I'm all for this, and I see Jesper's document yesterday as part of a
much larger plan.
I have set up a paypal.com account, and will set up a kagi account
shortly. I'm trying to set up a revenue model for AbiWord based on an
aggragation of small sums from users + contractural work from more
serious individuals.
While abiword is free, some people might like to give us $5 or something
for our work, just as a donation. Others might want to contact a
developer directly and contract work to fix a bug or implement a new
feature. I've done the latter, and it's quite rewarding, since I got
paid and we got some cool new features.
Others might like to contribute by code, bug reports, and just general
help like web site maintanance. This is all welcomed as well, and will
go into my forthcoming "how to contribute to abiword" document.
I have not worked out how we might distribute funds from the "general $5
donation" pot. Contractural work is cut&dry - the money goes to the
developer who did the work. Suggestions are welcomed.
To wrap up, I'm not sure how we can get more people to test the BiDi
build for you between release cycles, and making it the default probably
won't accomplish this.
Dom
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Wed Dec 12 2001 - 13:45:33 CST