Feedback

[Lex Spoon]

I don't have a specific proposal on what to do about SqueakMap and
Universes, but my meta-response is: we should use whatever works for the
goals we want to solve.  I'm hoping the goals can be sorted out on this
list, and then the technology options can be analyzed.  All I meant
in the previous post is that we have workable technology right now, and 
so surely we should use it until something better comes along.

A few thoughts.

First, we should not ignore the strategy where SqueakMap is a place to
find stuff about the *whole* squeak community, while Universes is used
to organize the development of sets of packages.  It would be much like
FreshMeat versus APT in the Unix world.  Ideally, all these tools
(including SqueakSource and SqueakPeople) would communicate with each
other to try and reduce the clutter that developers deal with.

Also, I am not sure how compatible it is to have a server that knows
everything, but a package-set tool which wants to allow private local
servers.  These seem like goals which will be hard to solve with a
single tool.  Although, it sounds like you are giving it a go, Goran. 
If it works, then that's great!

I think we should keep in mind that Universes does address a lot of our
needs, even though it does not have room (that I can figure out) to
include a registry for the entire Squeak project.  This reemphasizes, I
think, the idea that maybe there should be two separate tools.

Finally, even if the individual programs are different, it could well be
that SqueakMap becomes a project that includes two different kinds of
tools in it.  That's a wonderful result for me.  I always have a large
pile of interesting computer projects to work on, and thus I'm always
happy for an excuse to set one aside or pass it on to someone else.  I
have been pushing this universes stuff because it seemed that people
could not grok it without having a prototype to play with.

Avi, I agree that it makes sense to have some kind of public registry of
universes.  I wish Debian had that, but the powers that be don't seem to
emphasize that there are other Debian packages in the world other than
those in the official channels.




-Lex