From: Ted Ts'o Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC 00/30] Ext4 snapshots - core patches Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 13:30:42 -0400 Message-ID: <20110607173042.GB30037@thunk.org> References: <1304959308-11122-1-git-send-email-amir73il@users.sourceforge.net> <4DEE4333.9@redhat.com> <4DEE5C73.806@oracle.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: "Amir G." , Josef Bacik , linux-ext4@vger.kernel.org To: Sunil Mushran Return-path: Received: from li9-11.members.linode.com ([67.18.176.11]:35582 "EHLO test.thunk.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932116Ab1FGRa4 (ORCPT ); Tue, 7 Jun 2011 13:30:56 -0400 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <4DEE5C73.806@oracle.com> Sender: linux-ext4-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Tue, Jun 07, 2011 at 10:14:27AM -0700, Sunil Mushran wrote: > On 06/07/2011 09:46 AM, Amir G. wrote: > >I understand the bitterness in btrfs community regarding ext4 snapshot > >feature. You might say the same things about ext4 64bit feature. > >I think it is not up to us to decide how it rolls. it's the users > >and companies involved that dictate where the development happens. > > Bitterness is not the issue. The issue is what happens when your > _patron_ has had enough of the project and decides to stop funding. Yep. On the other hand, the question is that if you move too slowly, the patron is just as likely to find another solution to his/her business problems. Sometimes perfect is the enemy of the good, and the best technology is not necesssarily what carries the day. Practical issues of what is available and what works "good enough" are just as important, if not more so. The philosophical questions have been discussed before in the "Worse is Better" dialectic. See: http://dreamsongs.com/WorseIsBetter.html Or, this set of slides by the same author, "Models of Software Acceptance: How Winners Win": http://dreamsongs.com/Files/AcceptanceModels.pdf Back to solid ground --- I'm not going to insist on perfection, but at the same time, the maintenance burden is something that has to be acceptable, and there needs to be plan towards making it better. If I thought Amir was going to disappear the moment the snapshot patches got accepted, there's no way I'd be accepting them. - Ted