> Hi, 
> 
> Just as another suggestion of something else to do to uselessly talk about
> what one would 
> do if one could do... here is something that needs to be done: 
> 
>         http://code.google.com/p/pharo/issues/list?can=2&q=Milestone%3D1.3
> 
> Someone need to looks at each issue and as questions. 
> 
>         - can this problem be repeated in the current last version of 1.3?    
>         - is this already fixed in 1.4? if yes 
>                 -- is it so grave that the fix needs to be backported? 
>         - was it already a bug for the last 10 years and it did not hurt? 
>                 -- Hint, hint: likely not important for fixing in 1.3
> after it has been released. 
>                     (yet, it could be. And if the fix is easy and clearly
> not breaking anything) 
>         - is there already a bug report about this issue on the tracker? 
>                 (you have no idea how many reports are duplicated
> entries...) 
>         - What could be the reason for the problem? What could be a
> possible fix?

I think this attitude is what will continue to hold Pharo back from wider
adoption. I've found 1.4 to be unusable for daily development. And yet
there's no interest in fixing problems in 1.3. As long as 1.4 is totally
experimental and not actually a productive environment, people who need to
get stuff done won't contribute to it. That means that for the time being,
it's the five of you who know what you're doing that will make Pharo better.
It's all good to say, "complain less, patch more" (and I totally agree with
it), but often times the person "complaining" is trying to figure out how to
get going so they can solve their own problem!

And lest you think I don't want to contribute, I'll point you to

http://code.google.com/p/pharo/issues/detail?id=4549&can=1&q=test%20runner&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Summary%20Milestone%20Difficulty

where I
a) submitted a bug report
b) included a video demonstrating the bug
c) included a patch fixing the bug

responses were
- "not a showstopper -> move it to 1.4"
- "for me the bug entry is not really relevant"

seven months later it finally made its way in.

I can see saying, "move it to 1.4" if 1.4 is right around the corner. But
it's seven months later and there's no 1.4 release and I'm personally still
very confused as to what versions of stuff people actually use. Presumably
some people use 1.4 else it wouldn't be under "active development," but for
actually getting stuff done, are people on 1.3? Or do people use 1.4 to get
stuff done?

Feel free to write me off, but I'm telling you this as someone who loves
smalltalk and pharo and really wants to see it win and receive wider
adoption. And I imagine that you guys do too, especially since more people
using pharo = more people contributing to pharo. But right now the pharo
ecosystem is so fragmented, and I feel like the development process is
totally opaque, and exclusive to the few people who get together in lille
for the sprints or whatever. I mean really, someone says they *can't run
tests*, *submits a patch*, and gets a "fuck you" response? No wonder there's
so little contribution from outside the core group of developers.

As long as 1.3 is the prime time release - i.e. the release suitable for
active development - you have to support it and care about the people using
it. This is not some backward compatibility thing. It's a daily usability
thing. You can't tell people, "yeah that is fixed, but only in 1.4, but 1.4
isn't really ready for you to use yet." And if I submit a patch for 1.3,
then accept the damn patch for 1.3. Don't tell me "it'll go into 1.4" when I
can't even use 1.4 myself. That's how you alienate users and keep the
community tiny.

Pat

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