[Gnash] A word to potential Gnash developers

[Martin Guy]

And the word is BEWARE

Another month has gone by and my final invoice has not been paid.
I make that three counts: Unfair Dismissal, Fraud

Rob Savoye:
> The reason you aren't working in Gnash is because you failed to actually
> accomplish anything...

and Libel. This is just untrue, as is a lot of what Rob says.

What I did when is visible hour by hour at
http://freaknet.org/martin/lulu/timesheet.txt
and "accomplishments", if you must, include implementing the largest
single AS class from scratch, and making audio samples work
(everything other than MP3)... but I wasn't hunting
"acccomplishments".

Those are highly visible large single changes that you can point to,
things like implementing a whole new pointless debugger that no one
uses and that slows the player down by a factor of two.
That sort of thing is aimed at "making a good show" rather than the
largely invisible detail work that works towards an actual healthy
software product. But the detail stuff is what Gnash most desperately
needs, so that is where I have ended up spending most time, as well as
a better interface to the outside world, a better "entrance" if you
will. At present it is an embattled gang hostile to the world.

The reason there's so much "Mail" in my timesheet that it includes
*acting* on the mail: helping prospective new developers... such as
setting up SSH tunnels for people behind fascist firewalls.
None of that comes under the heading of "accomplishments". It's more
like dusting, cleaning the toilets and making sure visitors get a
welcome and a cup of coffee, something no thrusting accomplisher would
dream of doing...

Anyway, what sort of "accomplishments" do you expect in the first six
months with a new project, when a lot of the time is spent learning a
new language and boggling at the bizzarre Gnash internals.

But there are deeper problems in the project than that. If you want to
know what they are, read
"Building Open Source Software" by Karl Fogel. The text is visible on
the web too.
Diff that against Gnash and you'll find out why it is failing.
The programmers on the project who were denied an education in
computing and had to invent everything for themselves may also get a
wider perspective too from "The Psychology of Computer Programming" by
Weinberg. That's only available on paper though.

> Hey Martin, this is totally inappropriate.
It is entirely appropriate to warn people reading the Gnash list to
avoid not to get involved with a vicious mob, or at least to get a
contract and a good international lawyer first.
If you don't, my experience is that unless you lick Rob's hands and
kow-tow to despotic "decisions" taken in private cliques, the chair
can at any time be kicked out from under you without warning.

> Drink too much last night ?
More sneering. No, morning tea and biscuits. What colours my judgement is anger.

    M