Re: breaking out: thinking abt the 'sa-update *VS* rdj' thread .. .

[Andy Jezierski]

Theo Van Dinter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote on 08/16/2006 10:04:19 AM:

> I was debating whether or not to get involved with this thread, and it
> looks like the original issue that Richard was concerned about has been
> addressed so that's good.  However, my other issue with the thread so
> far comes from the misleading or otherwise incorrect information being
> presented which I'll try to respond to below.
>

> Andy Jezierski:
> > I think SARE can put out a new rule for a specific spam problem a lot
> > faster than the SA project, so I'll have to disagree with you here.
>
> Wow, there's so much wrapped into this statement that it's hard to figure out
> what to address first.
>
> - "put out" implies distribution, which is more of a function of how often
>   users check for updates than anything else since otherwise it's
>   people putting files on a website.  ie: It doesn't matter if rules
>   are published every 5 minutes if people are only checking once a day.
>

Poor choice of words on my part I suppose, I meant develop new rules and have them available for distribution.

> - "put out" also implies development, which SARE probably is faster on.
>   The real question is: Why?  My view is that it's manpower.
>
>   There's a bunch of people in SARE (I don't know the actual number)
>   focused on developing rules.

Agreed. That's all they do is rules. Who knows how many ninja's are out there.

>
>   SpamAssassin has (according to the CREDITS file) 13 people split
>   between rules and code.  However not all of those people are active.
>   Also, there tends to be more focus on the code as opposed to the rules.
>
>   For example, there were 45 commits between 7/1 and today for rules
>   (rulesrc/trunk) from 3 people.  There were 135 commits between 7/1
>   and today for code (trunk) from 7 people.
>

I've always viewed the SA team as being more concerned with the coding and trying to give SA new spam fighting features and not as much with the rules, since in the past there were no rule updates between releases. I suppose I have to change my thinking now with the advent of sa-update.  

I didn't mean to knock anyone.  I think SA is a fantastic product, kudo's to all the developers. And SARE is a great addon to SA, kudo's to the ninja's as well.  With the help of both teams, the end users have a fighting chance.

Andy