On Mar 8, 2006, at 8:36 PM, tim Rowledge wrote:

>
> On 8-Mar-06, at 7:05 AM, Markus Gaelli wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> I am still waiting for a radically optimistic "wiki like"  
>> environment, where anybody (ok, say having at least the status of  
>> an apprentice on Squeak-People...) can change code of the current  
>> golden_and_shared_image anytime, ideally _always_ developing with  
>> it as the base for his (do we have a she on Squeak-People with at  
>> least apprentice status?) daily work.
> Given the number of mistakes even the best of the Master rated  
> people make I'd really  not like to live in a world where code  
> could just be stuffed in by anyone. Shudder.  I mean for goodness  
> sake, I've been doing this continuously for 23 years and still  
> screw up.
23 years of experience and still making mistakes? Tsss. ;-)

The release process for such a "turnaround image"(*) into a stable  
version could still be conservative: Only allow bugfixes in the last  
two weeks before a release or so.
Hundreds of users will take care. So what would be the worst case  
scenario besides Homer Simpson using a turnaround image instead of a  
released one in his nuclear power plant?

Sure, if my image hangs due to some new code somebody on the other  
end of the world just released, I also get...aehm... sad.
Maybe some clever rollback mechanism could be established, otherwise  
I'd say "no risk no fun" is the mantra of the early adapter.

But I guess the people on the other end of the world will think twice  
about doing an unsafe new release for a package, as they have to sign  
it.
Trust the fine crowd of squeak developers and they might even reward  
you by writing tests. People prefer to be proud of their work and not  
embarrassed, so on the average it should be ok. And if not: Fail  
early, fail often. Let's dare it and embarrass ourselves from time to  
time for real - not only here on the mailing list. ;-)

I think as long as nobody has implemented such a "turnaround image"  
together with a viable migration strategy / hybrid strategy to keep  
the current dev-process in sync,
we don't need to go into further details here. I just wanted to throw  
some blue pane idea in - maybe it was no the best time for it right  
now... ;-)
People using Mantis and co. are doing a terrific job! And this  
process seems to be the best we have at the moment.
Please, next time also send a link (again) together with your nice  
motivating words about using mantis.
This will hinder people like me from lifting off into blue air and  
instead make them doing some real pink work. ;-)

Power to the people!

Markus
(*) Turnaround: The faster the wheel spins the more stable it gets.