Tom, I'll take a small issue with your:
> A 
> quick look at all the modules in CVS suggests that this is the best
way to 
> contribute code, not by hacking on the core.

I think that's an effect, not a cause.  My company stopped submitting
changes well before I came to it (2003) because the core changes it
needed were not acted on (i.e., accepted).  We still don't believe that:
* Conns should belong to a single thread
* Authentication and authorization belong in the same module
* A deployment will only use one authentication protocol
(Ns_ConnReturnUnauthorized)
* System logging shouldn't have hooks for external system log
consolidation (syslog, mod_log_spread...)

At least the first of those got some action in 4.x, but we've still had
to modify the core and drivers to get our connection count up where we
want it on Windows (>10000 established sockets; that may help folks
understand why 1 thread == 1 socket doesn't work well for us).

(I'm aware OpenACS has a fine set of workarounds (sorry, modules and
deployment conventions) for the second and third problem, but I can't
use 'em (and don't read the source for 'em) since it's GPL'ed.)

But we don't submit our changes, because going through the process you
suggest (which I admit, we use an abbreviated form of internally) would
double our technical management overhead, and have us working on use
cases we frankly don't ever deal with (e.g., virtual hosting).

Would we take that overhead if our developers didn't think they'd end up
spending as much time arguing (sorry, "motivating their changes") with
folks who won't affect our bottom line as they do with their colleagues
& customers? I don't know; I think we'd be more likely to.

I second your thought that setting direction would be good. But I find
it very easy to hear your input as "nullity is a good direction".

Stability has its costs as well as its benefits --
-- ReC

-----Original Message-----
From: AOLserver Discussion [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Tom Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 4:52 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [AOLSERVER] Minor facelift to aolserver.com

On Tuesday 08 April 2008 13:52, Rick Cobb wrote:
> Well, it's certainly compliant :-), but I suspect Mr. Jackson would
object.
> If there's one thing aolserver ain't, it's "beta".

Well, at least he has a goal to achieve, and once we attract 'people'
who are 
interested in developing beta grade software, we will surely get there
very 
quickly. 

A cute logo isn't going to attract the level of developer who would be
able to 
maintain AOLserver, much less provide a useful enhancement. 

But like I said: why not figure out what needs to be done...first. 

IMHO, by advertising the stability of the AOLserver API, you will
attract 
users who would otherwise be correctly scared off by constant hacking. 

Another thing which might attract interest is if our current community
members 
would write a brief application note explaining how they use AOLserver,
and 
why they chose it over other potential platforms. Additionally, we could

catalog sites known to run on AOLserver. My guess is that developers who
have 
similar interests and motivations or similar problem solving skills as 
current community members will be attracted to the community. Given the
fact 
that there have been only a handfull of CVS commits in the last year, I
would 
venture to guess that most community members are happy with the current 
codebase, and that means that new community members will probably be
looking 
for a mature project which allows them to focus on their own
application, at 
least at first. Then, they may contribute a module which extends
AOLserver. A 
quick look at all the modules in CVS suggests that this is the best way
to 
contribute code, not by hacking on the core. 

Change for the sake of change will scare off any sane developer, we
don't 
charge for upgrades, please remember this fact. 

tom jackson


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