Re: [gentoo-dev] My wishlist for EAPI 5

[Rich Freeman <rich0@gentoo.org>]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 5:27 AM, Alec Warner <antarus@gentoo.org> wrote:
> There is this vague idea that you can just propose something; get
> consensus on the ML, everyone goes to implement it, and then it works
> just as designed. That is usually called the 'waterfall' model and its
> really hard to do correctly.
>

++

Waterfall has problems even in places where people are paid to do
work.  It has little chance of working here.

Devs aren't paid to do work.  They do what interests them.  So, the
most effective way to make something happen is to do it yourself, or
better still make it something interesting, do it yourself, and
inspire others to help you out.  A working program will always gather
more interest than a discussion on a list.

Plus Gentoo is all about choice - even if it never becomes the
standard lots of people will do it anyway.  Look at paludis, systemd,
and so on.  The autobuilt releases started out as drobbins side
project on funtoo before they became the mainstream Gentoo way.
Showing people that something works is always better than telling
them.

Rich