Re: building from CVS... some thoughts

["Michael Sterrett -Mr. Bones.-" <msterret coat com>]

> Nonsense. The CVS documentation is unintelligible until one already
> knows CVS. However, how to do enough CVS to work with GNOME is fairly
> simple. It takes someone who knows how about 90 seconds to explain it
> -- and, yes, it is well covered in the GNOME faq. So that is a good
> source. But the CVS documentation is not.
I can see I'm not going to be able to understand your motivation on this
issue.  As I stated in my previous mail, I came into this project completely
ignorant of the workings of CVS and thru reading the CVS documentation I
now have a working knowledge.  You come back with, "Nonsense."  I'm sorry,
but you're not encouraging people (in particular me) to help you with this
kind of response.  If you want help, you have to have a sense of humility.
In other areas of life when you want help I don't think you berate the people
who's help you're requesting, why are you doing so in this arena?

> If someone who knows how to do CVS (or anything else, for that matter)
> can explain the necessary basics in 90 seconds, or someone who doesn't
> know how can spend three hours trying to figure it out by trial and
> error and beating their head against the documentation, where is the
> comparative value of time you speak of in your note? Out the
> window.
You missed a key point in my previous mail.  It's not a matter of comparative
value of time.  It's the unspoken message that your time is more valuable
then the time of the developer.  It's not about time efficiency, it's about
being humble.  The message that is communicated when someone puts in the
"three hours" themselves is, "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm willing to
do what it takes to raise myself to the level of competence of the developer."

> And this is *not* just a development list -- it's the only
> gnome list there is. Now, if you think we need separate gnome-user and
> gnome-devel lists so that those who are too important to take 90
> seconds to help the less advanced don't need to be bothered, that's a
> separate issue.
It's been stated over and over on this list that Gnome is *alpha* software.
By definition then, this _must_ be a developers only list.  If you consider
yourself strictly a user, then this software is not ready for you yet.  I
suggest you switch temporarily to KDE until Gnome is ready and has better
user support.

Michael Sterrett
  -Mr. Bones.-
michael.sterrett@coat.com