Side effects?

[Kevin Walzer]

On 1/30/13 10:57 PM, Jeremy Lavergne wrote:
> One time funding (pay for a task) is (arguably) different than routinely asking for money. We have had trolls in the past like that, simply feeding off people.

Well, I don't think I'm a troll...for a long time PortAuthority was the 
only viable GUI tool for MacPorts. See this ancient blog entry calling 
for a MacPorts GUI at GSoc:

http://ihack.us/2008/03/24/building-a-gui-for-macports/

Dr. Ernie called PA a "clever" product and the "state-of-the-art" at the 
time.

GUI programming is hard. I think that's one reason why a free, 
open-source GUI tool for MacPorts has never really taken off: I have 
literally watched such tools come and go over the past eight or nine 
years that I've been a MacPorts (formerly DarwinPorts) user.

One reason I'm still at it is PA provides a modest amount of income for 
me. And if PA makes MacPorts more usable to some, and attracts more 
users, then that's to MacPorts' benefit as well.

If a professional-level, full-featured, open-source GUI tool for 
MacPorts came along, I'm sure the community would embrace it. I would 
certainly welcome the competition. But finding someone devoted enough to 
do that level of work, for free, as a volunteer, is a real challenge. 
No free/OSS GUI tool for MacPorts comparable in professionalism to 
Fink's FinkCommander has ever emerged.

--Kevin

-- 
Kevin Walzer
Code by Kevin
http://www.codebykevin.com