[tahoe-dev] [tahoe-lafs] #1226: boutique VC in boutique language raises bar for contributions

[tahoe-lafs]

#1226: boutique VC in boutique language raises bar for contributions
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 Reporter:  gdt                 |           Owner:  somebody 
     Type:  defect              |          Status:  new      
 Priority:  minor               |       Milestone:  undecided
Component:  dev-infrastructure  |         Version:  1.8.0    
 Keywords:  darcs               |   Launchpad Bug:           
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 I tried to be able to use darcs.  If all went well, this would require
 building it from a packaging system and then learning enough to be able to
 get the sources and then create and send patches.
 I found that pkgsrc has 2.0.2, which is old, but Zooko said it should
 work.  But then ghc didn't build.  This is all arguably lame of pkgsrc,
 but it shows that the number of people who care about ghc and darcs is low
 --- most things not only build but are reasonably current.   My Copious
 Spare Time cannot support maintaining a boutique language so that I can
 build a boutique version control system so that I can maybe send a patch.

 Were tahoe in git, I would have just cloned it and been fine, and I
 suspect I'm not alone.  hg or bzr I would have figured out (but I haven't
 had to yet).  I gather there is some aesthetic quality to darcs having a
 theory of patches, but I believe that other modern DVCSes would be
 adequate, because tahoe-lafs does not appear to have odd/complicated
 requirements.  I think there is great merit to using tools that are in
 common use and that can be built/run using language environments that are
 mainstream enough so that systems without them can be called broken.  (For
 example, if I said I couldn't compile C programs or run perl I would
 expect to get laughed at.)

 It's hard to tell how many people have been discouraged from contributing
 because of this, but I think consideration of a move to a mainstream tool
 is warranted.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs/ticket/1226>
tahoe-lafs <http://tahoe-lafs.org>
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