[Ffmpeg-devel] Re: Advocating periodic releases

[Roman Shaposhnick]

On Fri, 2006-10-06 at 15:46 -0400, Mikhail Teterin wrote:
> This is bogus. Even if I were simply a user, I'd still have the right to 
> criticize. Not having release management is more like a bug. Do you yell at 
> bug-reporters to shut up until they volunteer patches?

  We sometimes, unfortunately, do. Especially in cases where it happens
to be a pilot error. But that shouldn't stop anybody from enhancing UI
or API as to reduce the rate of pilot errors. That said, we have very
little personal incentive to do so, just because we happen to be
relatively experienced pilots ourselves.  

> But mine was not a "criticism" per se -- it was a request for releases, which 
> most (all?) other software projects of note provide, 

  Most project (may be with the exception of Linux kernel where the
amount of manpower is currently such that they can do *ANYTHING*) do
such a poor job of releasing their bits that it doesn't even amount
to a joke. Please realize that if FFMpeg gets somebody interested in
taking care of formal releases the personal life of this person would
cease to exist (unless we get somebody on a payroll from many commercial
entities basing their solutions on FFmpeg source code). Personally
I am NOT interested in doing a half-assed job of it, and I believe
Michael and other senior contributors aren't interested as well.
If we do it -- we do it right or we just don't do it at all.


> Until this atitude changes, there will be no deserving recepient of your 
> gratitude. Hence the request I (perhaps overly sarcasticly) began with.

  My personal opinion is that the attitude will change the minute we 
see a person *CAPABLE* of doing the *HARD* work, as opposed to somebody
flaming on a mailing list. 

  As Michael pointed out -- is *IS* desirable. 

Thanks,
Roman.