bikeshedding the older systems...

[Ken Cunningham]

Hi all,

I am going to ask here for permission to go ahead and make adjustments to any ports that need fixing for os versions < 10.9 without the need for PRs or further discussions.

Although I know there can always be several different ways of doing something, I tend to use these older systems on a daily basis, and I often fix these port for these older systems quickly. However, I can get frustrated bikeshedding the small nuances of this vs. that way of fixing them -- and this is really to nobody's benefit, I submit.

I suggest that if I'm prepared to spend the time to figure out how to fix these ports for older systems, in a way that doesn't affect newer systems, then I'd like to be able to just go ahead and fix them without endless and often pointless discussions about this-vs-that way it could be done. There are too many fixes to do to spend all day bikeshedding those details.

After I fix them, if someone sees some differen/better way they might want them fixed, well please feel free to update the fix if you're so inclined. At least the port will be fixed in the meantime. But in most cases, I'm really the only one who has the ability to test and see what works anyway, so I'm hoping you will all let me just go ahead and do that with the blessing of the community.

I think that MacPorts support for older OS versions is one of our strongest features -- and will be a primary way we make our mark in the mix of other package managers. I see a day where all software authors send users to us for this reason. And I don't want to see that get burned by bikeshedding the nuances of fixes for old OS version.

I hope you'll all see it the way I see I it, and as always, I promise not to do anything purposefully stupid.

Best,

Ken