Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Thu, 27 Dec 2001 15:43:45 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Thu, 27 Dec 2001 15:43:35 -0500 Received: from neon-gw-l3.transmeta.com ([63.209.4.196]:48139 "EHLO neon-gw.transmeta.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Thu, 27 Dec 2001 15:43:23 -0500 Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 12:41:15 -0800 (PST) From: Linus Torvalds To: Larry McVoy cc: Subject: Re: The direction linux is taking In-Reply-To: <20011227123344.H25698@work.bitmover.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Thu, 27 Dec 2001, Larry McVoy wrote: > > > > > > Huh. I'm not sure I understand this. Once you accept a patch into the > > > mainline source, are these people still supposed to maintain that patch? > > > > [Linus stuff] > > But this didn't answer my question at all. My question was why is this a > problem related to a source management system? I can see how to exactly > mimic what described Al doing in BK so if that is the definition of goodness, > the addition (or absence) of a SCM doesn't seem to change the answer. Ok, I see what you are asking for. No, I'm taking a bigger view. A patch is not just a "patch". A patch has a lot of stuff around it, one being the unknowable information on whether the sender of the patch is somebody who will do a good job maintaining the things the patch impacts. That's something a source control system doesn't give you - but that doesn't mean that you cannot use a SCM as a tool anyway. > I _think_ what you are saying is that an SCM where your repository is a > wide open black hole with no quality control is a problem, but that's > not the SCM's fault. You are the filter, the SCM is simply an accounting/ > filing system. Right. But that's true only if I use SCM as a _personal_ medium, which doesn't help my external patch acceptance. So even if I used CVS or BK internally, that's not what people _gripe_ about. People want write access, not just a SCM. > but your typical SCM has the end user doing the merges, not the maintainer. > If you had an SCM system which allowed the maintainer to do all or some of > the merging, would that help? Well, that's what the filesystem is for me right now ;) Linus - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/