Subject: Re: Something to shoot for someday...
To: None <perry@piermont.com>
From: Chris G. Demetriou <cgd@netbsd.org>
List: tech-install
Date: 07/01/1999 23:28:28
"Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com> writes:
> I'm not telling people not to work on improvements to the current
> one. I would argue, however, that if anyone is contemplating a big set 
> of improvements to it, they should instead work on rewriting it
> themselves rather than institutionalizing it.

Realistically, it's not clear that that's possible for most people.
Given the amount of time _I_ have to commit, It's not possible for me.

My goal is to improve the software.  Trying to start from the ground
up is impractical, because you need to devote so much time to it
before you can reasonably subdivide the work or hand the improved
software off to others.  And if you're starting from scratch, if you
don't have time to get it that far, it's really not worth doing
anything at all.

I don't want to discourage other people (e.g. you) from trying to go
the "large rewrite" route, but evolution is, at most times, more
practical than revolution.  8-)


cgd
-- 
Chris Demetriou - cgd@netbsd.org - http://www.netbsd.org/People/Pages/cgd.html
Disclaimer: Not speaking for NetBSD, just expressing my own opinion.