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From: Richard R. <nt...@fl...> - 2004-05-19 00:11:33
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Hi, > > IMHO, the news needs to be less formal, > What do you exactly mean? We only create news for releases. We almost need some more social, more human, news. I have no idea what effect it would have :-) > IMHO some problem with the news are, > - sometimes it's missing items (see e.g. the recent 2.4 and 2.6 > driver releases) Hmm... that needs to be addressed. The news also needs to be mirrored to FreshMeat. > - the 4 items list is too short, there could be a bit more and > maybe old history OK, I've just expanded it to 8 items. It's just a parameter in the build script in the parts directory. If I get bored I might add more news items in summary only. > > and needs tell people how we're getting on. > Definitely. And perhaps who is working on different parts (mostly nobody). This might be where things break down. For example, I started working on the directory handling *years* ago, but only now do I have some code. I would like to tell the world what I'm doing, but I don't want to feel *obliged* to deliver on some timescale. We all have more important (non-NTFS) commitments to fulfil. > My impression is that people are not aware how huge is this task. IMHO > NTFS could be compared only with XFS or Reiser4. Both are worked on by 6-8 > people, full time Given that NTFS is a dirty word amongst some Linux distros, we cannot possibly compete. > > At the moment we have quite a lots of page hits, > 330,000 a month and soon 5 million total. Great isn't it :-) but how do we harness it? > > We keep scaring people off. > How? If we know we could try to address it. You've already answered that: NTFS is too huge. I've answered a lot of emails from people wanting to help, but few ever respond. I've probably been aiming too high. > > Beginners don't want to do the boring tasks and they can't manage the > > sexy stuff. > If we explained why a "boring task" is important and actually it is part > of a sexy stuff then it maybe wouldn't look so boring anymore. Suddenly this sounds like lots of effort (in management) for very little return. We're all techies; we're not managers. If we're not coding we're not using out time efficiently. > > tools are useful, but people want write support > Some tools are needed to "support" write support: mkntfs, ntfsck, ntfsdb > (debugger, editor), test suite. So perhaps we need to stop doing "useful" tools and only create development aids. > > suggestions? (in no particular order) > > stop ntfsprogs devel > I think the above tools are needed. ntfsprogs is also an easy and "safe" > playground, as Anton is wont to say. That's fair enough. I've started my directory code in userspace for the simplicity. I need to get my UML debug environment working again. > > campaign for money (to work full time) > IMHO this needs a serious project plan or good luck. Yeah, but it's worth imagining. To raise a few thousand probably that big a deal - just enough for a few months sabbatical. (I have a job and I don't want to quit quite yet). > > close the mailing lists > ??? Just every random thing that popped into my head. Perhaps you could replace that with "make the list dev only (i.e. no more help)" I like helping people, but I should be coding. > > give priority to driver > I think it has priority. I don't think it does, atm. We're all busy with real life, so development is a fix here, or a quick utility there. We've all been too daunted to start the next stage. Hell, I've been hiding from it for longer than both of you. > > give up > Sorry, this one is exceptionally rejected :) Glad to hear it :-) Rich. |
