Re: 3.8 "feature": Drop or Fix Fallback Mode

[Bastien Nocera <hadess hadess net>]

On Mon, 2012-10-22 at 16:55 +0200, Vincent Untz wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The discussion about features is supposed to heat up next week, but I'll
> actually be offline. So I'd like to start discussion on the fallback
> mode today.
> 
> First of all, go read the wiki page:
>  https://live.gnome.org/ThreePointSeven/Features/DropOrFixFallbackMode
> 
> It more or less documents the current situation with the fallback mode.
> And I'm of the opinion that we can't accept this situation for 3.8
> anymore.
> 
> So, the two alternatives I can think of are:
> 
>  a) get more people to work on the fallback mode so that it has a high
>     enough quality and follows the current vision of the project

This option means that there would be a number of bugs that couldn't be
fixed either at all, or couldn't be fixed without doing the splits, and
making some code much more complicated than it was.

>  b) do not have a fallback mode anymore (or at least, not the current
>     one...)
> 
> (if anyone can think of another option, please raise your voice)
> 
> Please note that option b doesn't necessarily mean that all of the
> features present in GNOME for the fallback mode get dropped too (this
> would need to be discussed, and this is possibly up to each maintainer),
> nor that fallback modules suddenly stop to be maintained (although this
> might happen if nobody steps up). It's merely about stopping to endorse
> as offical the current fallback mode.
> 
> It'd be useful to know to what extent people would be affected if we
> stop supporting the fallback mode. For instance, last June, Antoine
> mentioned that llvmpipe support is not there yet on OpenBSD...
> 
> Again, before replying, go read the wiki page:
>   https://live.gnome.org/ThreePointSeven/Features/DropOrFixFallbackMode