[FFmpeg-devel] FOMS 2009 FFmpeg outbrief

[Reimar Döffinger]

On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 04:35:15PM +0000, Robert Swain wrote:
> but at least people could
> report bugs against a non-ancient version of FFmpeg.

How is that supposed to work? _I_ won't have that old (as in previously
released) version installed either way, so _I_ will not be able to handle
bug reports against it.
I simply can't understand how a resonable discussion should be possible
when everyone uses the word "releases" to mean "magic pixie dust that
fixes my favourite issue". That means that when we do releases, about
90% might have just as many complaints if we don't do it exactly the way
they want it.
So I propose this: any discussion about "releases" is from now on
forbidden. Issues must be stated clearly and specificially with a
specific solution (e.g.
Problem: I want every distribution to ship the same version.
Solution: send one person with a shotgun to the FFmpeg package
maintainer of each distribution.
or:
Problem: I want to develop my own private hacks to FFmpeg but don't want
to maintain them.
Solution: Stop FFmpeg development completely).
No I am not entirely serious, but just releases is obviously not what people
want, because we do have releases: each SVN revision is one.
So everyone asking for "releases" is asking for something that in their
imagination is implied by a "release", but given the lack of working
crystal balls it is also a pointless request.

> > And regarding the roadmap, it would be nice to have something describing
> > what features that are in progress or planned. But maybe not something
> > that says exactly what is going to be included in the next release.

"roadmap" is evidently another buzzword the meaning of which we are
trying to reverse-engineer here. Am I really the only one who has no
idea what they wanted when they asked for a "roadmap"?
Why do you think that the kind of roadmap you suggest will be considered
helpful by even a single one of them?
(but yes, I personally would consider it useful to have a list of what
everyone is working on and if there is progress if they don't mind the
effort, though I doubt it will be really useful in reality).

Greetings,
Reimar D?ffinger