Re: [gentoo-user] Fragile python update is wedged [Was: Fragile rust update is wedged].

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hello, Jay.

On Fri, May 02, 2025 at 14:44:06 -0700, Jay Faulkner wrote:

> On 5/2/25 2:15 PM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> > If that's the way they see things, it would seem that having a project
> > dependent on rust should figure high on that project's risk list.

> This is ... a non-actionable take, regardless of if I agree with it or not.

OK.

> Do you expect Gentoo to replace Firefox? pycryptography? a heavily used 
> SVG library? kernel drivers for interesting (really, mac) hardware? 
> There's only so much that the downstream distribution has control over, 
> and I appreciate that Gentoo, generally, has accepted that the state of 
> the world is that rust can't easily be avoided.

No, I don't expect any of the above.

I was thinking more as a putative project manager at the start of, say, a
project to design and produce a device with embedded software.  The
question would arise as to what language to program it in.  Rust would
likely be a contender.  But if it were up to me, I'd veto it.  The
language isn't stable, doesn't have a standards body (such as ISO)
defining it, there is only one compiler, there aren't that many
competent practitioners, and so on.  Add to that the difficulty of
recreating an up to date compiler if the current infrastructure
collapsed for any reason, then I think it fair to say that current users
of rust are courageous.

None of this has anything to do with Gentoo, really, it's just a
tangent.

> There are a bunch of volunteers keeping the lights on, navigating some 
> of these pitfalls -- even though they themselves might actually agree 
> with you -- because they represent the reality of the OSS landscape.

> ...but complaining about it here is unlikely to actually change 
> anything, and only dishearten the folks who are trying to keep it all 
> working. It's nicer to focus our mental energy and time on changes that 
> are achievable as a project -- or specific, fixable technical issues, 
> like the wedged install this started with (and the reply with direct 
> information on how to fix it).

I wasn't wanting to dishearten anybody.  Apologies for doing so
unintentionally.

> My $.02,

> JayF

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).