Hi Henrik
I understand your point of view. But I still think that modules are really important. Because else Squeak will be never be a real open source project because of the monolithic image syndrom and integration process.
I have the impression that part of the problem is that we started to get confused with deltamodules and the reference model. May be modules with scoping was too ambitious and having a first step as packages was needed. I do not believe that if enough people would have joined this would have been a problem.
I have the impression that simple tools are missing to support the process because what I can tell you is that I ***really*** tried to understand modules and the explorer open on root was not enough to get it.
Here Alex is working on saving modules as imageSeg (but this is true that alex started to really know Smalltalk in January). We will organize a new SqueakNick dedicaced to Modules. But sometimes we do not have enough knowledge of Squeak to really take decision. Working in the dark is not easy.
So
On Saturday, May 18, 2002, at 05:48 PM, Henrik Gedenryd wrote:
This is a long overdue report about the (non-)progress of the modules project.
When the modules code I had written went into the update stream in January, I made it clear that I would have limited time to work on this project in the future, and that it was and is ESSENTIAL that people contribute. (By January, the code had already been lying around without progress since early November.)
From the beginning this has been meant as a collaborative project. Dozens and dozens of people on this list have talked about how important this project is. Still, contributions have been minimal. By contributions I mean stuff that has the quality to go into the update stream.
Recently I also heard veteran Squeakers say that they intentionally take a wait-and-see approach, hoping that "problems will go away". I know of no facility that makes problems go away by themselves.
I also see people posting lists of things they want, with no commitment to contribute them. Who do you expect to write this code? I think I know the answer to that.
Even though I've been very clear that I only have minor opportunities to work more on this, people seem to expect me to do all the work. Let me state this again: I will not do any more work on the modules.
To make this clear, I resign from the SqF modules project now with immediate effect. Hopefully this will make the point to people that I will not drive this forward in the future. Do not expect me to make any more contributions. If you want this to move forward you have to do the work. I will not do it. I have already done much more than I committed to do when I started. I have no interest in programming modules, other than that I want to use the results, much like others here. I do not enjoy doing this work. I especially do not like the slandering and backstabbing that has occurred, sometimes from people who I thought more of. It is time for the rest of the Squeak community to put their money where their mouths are, or where they have been in the past at least.
I believe that the result of this will be that no further contributions are made, and the effort will die, in spite of all the promises and all the talk. Please prove me wrong.
Henrik