Posted by Balazs Wellisch on 01/02/06 22:22

> It is one thing to fix a software flaw. It is quite another when the
> problem is in the development process. The only way to fix it is to
> fork--another beauty of open source I suppose.

I'm not sure I understand your point. What exactly do you see as a problem
in the development process?

Forking is typically not done to fix bugs. You can create a fork if you want
to take product development in a new direction that's more suitable for your
own needs. To fix a bug you can simply submit a patch for the current
release.

>
> I think you're taking a particular case and fairly generalizing it over
> all open source products. It's certainly not a common practice to
> release software with critical components marked as experimental. We're
> not talking beta versions here. This has been the case for the last
> dozen production releases or so.

Well, sure I am generalizing since we're having a discussion about the
merits of open source development. It is in fact a necessity for open source
to "release" software in an experimental state. Most projects have nightly
builds that can be downloaded, worked on and then released again. This is
how things get done. This is why open source is more powerful. Anyone can
download the software and contribute to its development. Potentially there
could be tens of thousands of programmers working on a project, fix bugs,
add features, etc. No software manufacturer can compete with that.

> I guess it was my fault to assume that the software would work
> correctly at the most basic level. Why, even the developers themselves
> don't know if it works or not. I'm clearly a fool in choosing the open
> source route.

It depends. If you're installing software on a production system than you're
playing the role of a system administrator. System administrators are
responsible for the operation of hardware and software. As such you should
have intimate knowledge of every component you install and you should be
able to fix any problem that occurs. Whether you do it yourself or through
support from a community or a company is up to you. But, you are responsible
for taking the necessary steps to ensure the operation of your server.

If you're a developer than you have every right to expect the server you're
working on to function as advertised. But if something goes wrong, guess
who's blamed? The sys admin! So, if you're playing both roles, ultimately it
is you who gets blamed!

It sounds to me like you're a little bitter about something that went wrong
and perhaps you lost some of your objectivity in the process. Why don't you
elaborate a little more on your problem? Perhaps we can help!

Balazs

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