Re: [tlug] Gentoo install issues - hda vs. sda

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

2009/3/15 Scott Robbins <scottro@example.com>:

> Josh can probably fill us in--Josh, if you see this, has Gentoo decided,
> well shucks, Fedora never documents anything and they're doing alright,
> why should *we* update after 2003?

No, Gentoo has decided:

a) Let's spend all of our time writing policy docs and complaining on
IRC and the project mailing lists about how all we do is write policy
docs.
b) Let's point out even the smallest violation of policy in a dickish
way, rather than trying to help people DTRT.
c) Let's auto-retire developers who have had no Bugzilla or CVS
activity in 60 days, so that people who would otherwise spend a five
to seven weekends a year hacking through ebuilds have to remember to
make a Bugzilla comment saying, "I'll get to this soon" to prevent
having their developer status snatched from them.
d) Let's make sure people affected by (c) have to take the ebuild
policy and Gentoo policy quizzes *every* frackin' time they want to go
active again to ensure that re-activating a lapsed developer takes a
good three weeks.
e) Let's have huge arguments on IRC and project mailing lists every
three months that cause 25% of the active developers to quit, 10% to
start a Gentoo fork that goes nowhere, and 5% to actively try to
sabotage the Gentoo project.

Gentoo is a great distro, but I'd say that is in spite of, rather than
thanks to, its organisational structure. If the Gentoo Foundation
simply stepped in to handle the less than 1% of Gentoo developers who
are causing problems in a common-sense way, rather than quoting
Chapter and Verse of the Book of Laws at anyone who so much sneezes
without covering his mouth with a Larry the Cow kerchief, I think we'd
actually have a Portage that scales and a much cleaner architecture.
As it is, the time of so many of the best developers is wicked up by
the political idiocy, and people like me who love Gentoo and want to
see it succeed, but don't have much time to contribute beyond the
occasional ebuild and week-end hackathon, finally resign themselves to
contributing to Project Sunrise[1] and nothing else.

Sorry, you didn't ask for this rant, and quite honestly, I'm surprised
to learn that I feel this way. Wow.

Cheers,
Josh

[1] http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/sunrise/