Hi Rodrigo, I've been offline for 5 days due to our telecoms provider screwing up our connection, so haven't been able to chip in. I'll through in a couple of thoughts.
First thing, a missing feature ain't a bug. A bug is something that has been written to provide a particular feature that doesn't do that feature correctly. A bug you typically fix by fixing existing code, not by writing new code. Second, as general policy bugs are a much higher priority to fix than new features, bugs generally effect a many more people, and new features generally help less users and often brings their own bugs that need to be fixed over time. Given this difference it's a good strategy to prioritize bugs fixes as it keeps the code base at a high quality, and improves productivity. If one is going to prioritize bugs over features then one needs to be clear about what is a bug and what is a new feature. Trying to label request for a new feature a bug is BAD thing to do, and would encourage you to ask if it might be a bug or a missing feature rather than blurt out a bug, crying wolf over a just a feature you'd like to been added. Third, the OSG is developed by a community, with features developed in response by the needs of that community. If you need a feature that others need to too then it's possible to collaborate. If you need a feature that no one has needed before and you are the only one who needs it then it's really your own responsibility to develop it. Other members of the community are likely to be supportive of this. There isn't some sugar daddy that funds the OSG and provides resources to develop code at the whim of the community. There are quite a few of us who do put a work into the project in our free time or without payment - I spend around a half of my time do pure open source work without an income, but most of this time will be spent fixing bugs, reviewing and merging fixes, getting release out etc. Fourth, no bug tracking or feature tracking!! I've used both in the past within companies and found that they were counterproductive. I've always found the most effective way to fix bugs is to broadcast the problem and engage the community and respond to them promptly - it's people who characterize and then fix bugs, not computer systems, so shortening the loop between the parties that find problems and those who fix them as much as possible is the idea bug resolution system. Prioritizing bug fixes is important part of this strategy. I still find most bug tracking and feature system separate users rather pull them closer together so are a backwards step w.r.t resolving the problems. Feature requests systems would also false give the impression/expectation that requesting a feature will be something that will be responded to. Since it's the community that puts in the time to make things happen, this would require others to freely give up their time just to service your needs, while we are pretty helpful and friendly we all all have own work that needs attention, and a life outside to nourish our souls and bodies. The informal system of users posting to mailing list/forum about what features we'd like to see is really a great way to find others who have similar needs, and can provide insight in how to tackle problems. It's people community directly with people, the social and common needs aspect to the community that really drives it. So some aspects of the OpenSceneGraph project that might seem like missing common computer systems aren't oversights but quite deliberate choices to use two way human communication as the system of choice. There are some systems that are of really benefit though - version control systems are invaluable. Subversion has served us quite well, but it does have it problems, so mid/longer term I would like to see use migrate across to git. The github responsitory is an experiment done by members of the community and isn't an official repository, this is still our openscenegraph.org subversion set up. Hope this helps, Robert. _______________________________________________ osg-users mailing list osg-users@lists.openscenegraph.org http://lists.openscenegraph.org/listinfo.cgi/osg-users-openscenegraph.org
