On Fri, Sep 25, 1998 at 01:04:59PM -0600, Herb Peyerl wrote:
> Scott Ellis <scotte@intrepid.warped.com>  wrote:
>  > just because there is disagreement amongst core.  As a longtime NetBSD
> 
> I thought I would clarify here that there isn't any disagreement within
> core or between members of core.  There isn't any 'bickering' inside of
> core. I should probably also clarify that there wasn't any before charles
> resigned either. (At least not in the time that I've been in 'core'.)
> 
> Anyway, just in case you had the wrong impression.

My guess was that this is more related to the constant comments from
those on the mailing lists like 'hasn't enyone ever considered' or
'Why hasn't core asked...'. Comments of that sort can be written in
an innocent way, but are often seen as quite insulting by the people
they are directed towards. Often, I think this is more due to the
nature of electronic communications, more than anything else - delay
of responses, subtle nuances, all contribute to general confusion.

I would think it fair to say that the core group doesn't communicate
_everything_ they are working on/trying to do/asking permission for...

I also don't expect them to.

It is nice to be informed, generally, however the excellent core team
we have (and have had) probably got involved in NetBSD more for 
technical reasons than for the politics debate and diplomacy. That 
NetBSD continues to turn out high quality, well MI designed code is 
a tribute to that.

Having said that, and not knowing how accurate it may be, I don't 
have a solution, but perhaps a suggestion that might be of use:

Does the core team feel pulled away from the technical issues they
wish to focus on by getting drawn into the licensing, politics,
methodology etc debates that keep coming up on the mailing lists?
Perhaps some of the less technical people who would like to contribute
to NetBSD (and have the time, and patience required) could form
some type of intermediary group, to help keep the stress away from
the core developers, but still provide answers and information to
the interested 'public'?

-- 
David Maxwell, david@vex.net|david@maxwell.net --> Mastery of UNIX, like
mastery of language, offers real freedom. The price of freedom is always dear,
but there's no substitute. Personally, I'd rather pay for my freedom than live
in a bitmapped, pop-up-happy dungeon like NT. - Thomas Scoville