portmaster, portupgrade, etc

[Grzegorz Junka]

On 05/10/2017 22:15, Chris H wrote:
> On Thu, 5 Oct 2017 20:27:19 +0000 Grzegorz Junka <list1 at gjunka.com> wrote
>
>> On 05/10/2017 19:54, Baho Utot wrote:
>>>
>>> On 10/04/17 16:39, Ernie Luzar wrote:
>>>
>>>> Here's my take on that.
>>>>
>>>> The future direction has already been decided by the FreeBSD leaders
>>>> 2 years ago with their development of a better pkg system.
>>>>
>>> [putolin]
>>>
>>>> Don't let the few old school die hearts who are afraid of any change
>>>> and make the most noise influence you. There will always be edge case
>>>> user who think their needs out weight what is best for the group.
>>> So what you are really saying is Go to hell old farts we don't need
>>> you here.  We are not going to listen to you as you are too old to
>>> know anything.  You are old and stupid.
>>>
>>> It is looking like I will need to move away from FreeBSD if that is
>>> really what is being accomplished here.
>> But do those old farts have anything interesting to say or they are just
>> making noise? What's the alternative to the proposed direction?\
> This is an *extremely* difficult question to answer, and these discussions
> come up all too often. The short answer is; shut up and code! -- Meaning;
> since FreeBSD exists, and grows because of those whom are willing to
> produce code to accomplish it. Those who put their code, where their
> mouth is, will be the deciding vote. :)
> I'm not always loving it. But it is, what it is, and it's hard to argue
> with it. No? :)

Yes and no. You are absolutely right that those able to code will have 
an advantage over those who just shout at others but do nothing, even if 
those who code don't do exactly what those who shout would like them to 
do. But that's shortsighted. There are better ways of spending time than 
developing something that no one else is going to use.

FreeBSD exists for its users. This doesn't mean those who shout the 
loudest or those with esoteric needs that no one has time to cater for. 
This means the 90% who are not even subscribed to this list or the 99% 
who have never expressed their opinion about the direction FreeBSD 
should take either on this list or anywhere else (the silent majority).

They vote for the proposed direction either by adopting FreeBSD and 
spreading the word around, or by abandoning it and moving to other 
systems without expressing any complaints. That's the reality.

Now, from that perspective it doesn't really matter if portmaster is 
maintained or not. What does matter is if the proposed changes to pkg 
and the ports system are going to make the life of an average user 
easier or not. Everything else should be secondary.

GrzegorzJ