Re: [gnome-db] GRAND MASTER PLAN

[linas linas org (Linas Vepstas)]

On Wed, Mar 10, 2004 at 04:48:15PM -0700, Derek Neighbors was heard to remark:
> So much of what is discussed is already do able in GNU Enterprise.  I have
> not entered into the discussion as I know Linas, Dru and Rodrigo are all
> familiar with GNUe so I suspect they have their reasons.

I'll profer a couple of reasons (and these are *not* criticisms of
gnue, just general comments):

-- working out the c-to-python-and-back-again bindings are scary,
   what not with the gtk and scheme event loops already vying for
   dominence.

-- Install; repeatable, servicable user-interface experience. 
   Gnucash has already taken a pounding for being too hard to 
   install.  Most of our bugs are cross-interface bugs, where
   things work only if version x of this is installed, and 
   the obvious work arounds fail due to version conflicts.

   We're ciritcally dependent on obsolete interfaces, e.g. guppi.
   Another example, gconfd-1 vs. gconfd-2 is biting us these days. 
   No fault of our own; we don't use gconfd. Its simply that 
   gtkhtml uses gconf and lord knows why.  And scheme/slib/g-wrap 
   have changed in incompatible ways for reasons unbeknownst to us; 
   these changes only serve to make gnucash unstable, unusable.

   I'm scared of gnue mostly because I perceive it to be a moving 
   target, with its own set of dependencies and infrastructre.

In the same way, I suspect enterprise java beans have a lot of 
these functions as well.  But I figure that ejb is a platform 
that will never become stable, debuggable, supportable.

(crap the only java app I use on a daily basis cannot even communicate 
with the window manager correctly; it creates insane window sizes.
wtf I've complained about this, but that bug will never be fixed.
This is not a criticism of gnue, but is an anti-illustration of what 
I mean by "stable debuggable supportable".  And yes, its probably Sun's
fault.)

--linas

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