Re: reiser4 vs politics: linux misses out again

[Ed Cogburn <edcogburn@hotpop.com>]

Jim Crilly wrote:

> On 06/30/05 07:02:44PM +0300, Markus   Törnqvist wrote:
>> It'd be much better to talk this thing through..
>> There have been pretty good arguments for the extended VFS, that it
>> would be doable. It may just be less of a unix after that, or less
>> of Linux as we know it now.
>> 
> 
> I'm not advocating a fork, I just think it's stupid that so many people
> have been saying "Stop arguing, just accept reiser4 as-is because it's
> fast and cool!!!!"


Assuming "fast and cool" here equates to some level of improvement to the
existing kernel, and/or new features/capabilities not currently available,
then are you saying "fast and cool" isn't good enough anymore, you now have
to be politically correct and socially popular and a master brown-noser as
well to get code into the kernel even just on an *experimental* basis?

In reality, the implied attitude behind your statement actually *guarantees*
a fork of Linux at some point down the road if you keep stonewalling the
inclusion of something that clearly has enormous potential, because for
many people "fast and cool" IS THE DESIRED OBJECTIVE, and by saying no to
that, YOU are the one setting the stage for a fork.  R4, or any other
promising and relatively stable technology, can't reach its full potential
until it begins to see wider testing and usage, which can only happen when
it gets included into the mainstream stable kernel.  So when the fork
finally happens because people got tired of waiting, don't blame the
forkers and don't blame Hans, it will have been your own attitude that made
it a fait accompli.

You obviously don't realize it, but a lot of us don't give a damn whether
you like Hans or not, or whether you think his design is "clean" or
"correct" or not, we just want Linux to be the "fastest and coolest" it can
be.  Find a way to solve the technical problems, and just give R4 its shot. 
Let it succeed or fail based on its own merits, and not because its author
may have poor social skills, or simply rubs you the wrong way.

I hope your attitude turns out to be in the minority, and cooler heads
prevail in this argument, because otherwise, Unix historians will likely
look back to this moment and say this was when Linux began to stumble...