James Carlson schrieb:
> John Plocher wrote:
>> This isn't easy - but it isn't impossible, either, given some
>> leadership and a desire to make something that works. Rather than
>> dumping a boil-the-ocean requirement on each and every FOSS project to
>> acomplish by themselves, mostly in the dark, and without any role
>> models, maybe we could nail down some architectural principles and
>> offer some best practices... Please?
>
> I think you're using the multiple-supported-versions thing as a cart to
> drag around an architectural horse, but if you insist, I'll say that the
> ARC isn't necessarily the right place to _solve_ that problem. Instead,
> the community groups that would be most affected by the requirements
> (say, Install and Packaging) should figure out what to do with the
> solutions that someone who cares about this angle (say, *you*) creates.
> Once there are solutions, bring 'em to the ARC for review. That's what
> the "R" part of ARC is about.
>
> The "Architecture Creating Council" is two doors down on the left. ;-}
>
I agree that multiple-supported-versions is not the only or always best
solution for the problem of incompatibly evolving software. And that the
problem does not depend on whether that software is FOSS of external
origin or not.
But I also agree with John, that there should be some documented best
practices to solve this recurring software engineering problem in
repeating situations. The ARCs review all the solutions that are brought
to them, can develop a deeper understanding of the architectural impact
and preferred solutions for OpenSolaris and are in the best position to
distill that into a document to provide guidance for project teams. The
FOSS project teams may not be involved with ARC on an ongoing basis, and
so are faced with a choice between reading up on ARC discussion of
similar cases of the past N months [N tbd] (you wish!), reinventing the
whee^W^Wa solution or taking the easy way out ("Ah, External is now
called 'Volatile'!").
- J?rg
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