Panther tickets

[Jordan K. Hubbard]

On May 21, 2009, at 7:39 AM, David Osguthorpe wrote:

> I really get concerned when I see statements like this - so much  
> that I start
> thinking maybe forking macports to eg. linuxports is needed - or  
> maybe back
> to darwinports

Which would gain you ... ?

We've had this debate before, and it always seems to boil down to  
"Hey, let's rip the non-MacOSX stuff out.  We're MacPorts, not  
*Ports!"  "No no, I had some Linux support working last year, even  
though it hasn't been maintained at all and only 10 ports actually  
work with it!" and then everyone tries to placate the person who put  
in that well-intentioned, but ultimately doomed (to rot) support by  
simply dropping the subject until the next time it comes up.

The fact remains pretty clear that the Linux folks and all the *BSDs  
have their own systems for managing software, and no more than a tiny  
fraction of their user base will ever use ours (the Gentoo BSD folks  
come to mind as another good example of that principle in action).   
Without users in any quantity, there is very little attention actually  
paid to the code in question and without attention, it becomes little  
more than the personal hobby of the few people who actually use that  
Linux/BSD/Solaris support code and MacPorts becomes an amalgam of  
common-good code and personal, pet projects.  Not my idea of a good  
time.

- Jordan