from Hacker News

An Open Letter to the FreeBSD Foundation, Core Team, Committers, and Community

by nortonham on 11/3/23, 4:26 AM with 58 comments

  • by marwis on 11/3/23, 5:52 AM

    Probably useful to link https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-ports/pull/189/files for some context. Looks like author overdramatizes the situation a bit.

  • by soupbowl on 11/3/23, 6:25 AM

    Seems like some minor drama that doesn't matter and a few decent ideas. Surprised this made it onto HN.

  • by barkingcat on 11/3/23, 6:42 AM

    This person even though having great ideas, needs an editor and a communicator liaison to help get the ideas across.

    First suggestion is to separate out the personal greavances from the ideas for the project and present them as distinct issues.

    There is a section of this posting that reads like what I would send to an HR department when trying to get accommodation.

  • by wkat4242 on 11/3/23, 7:17 AM

    I don't think FreeBSD has a problem at all. I love it and use it as my main daily driver desktop.

    But, I don't want it to be too mainstream. I picked it precisely because I think Linux is becoming too mainstream with too much involvement from big tech. I think things are just fine as they are.

    The last thing I'd want to see is "the year of FreeBSD on the desktop" lol. Sometimes things are great especially because they're not for everyone.

  • by neilv on 11/3/23, 5:33 AM

    > the FreeBSD Discord Server, a community of over 3,000 members strong.

    Was the adoption of Discord by the FreeBSD community controversial?

  • by baz00 on 11/3/23, 7:27 AM

    One thing I realise when I read things like this is I'm too old to give a shit about personal dramas. Which is what this is.

  • by INTPenis on 11/3/23, 6:12 AM

    Is FreeBSD attractive enough to garner a community today?

    I used to be a FreeBSD user back in the days of walnut creek CD-ROM.

    But today I see very little reason to torture myself with FreeBSD. So why should anyone else?

    I get the sentiment that it's good to have diversity and competition, but if you want to get a job done then Linux is the best out right now.

  • by ThinkBeat on 11/3/23, 7:56 AM

    I dont think that the "merge masters" have the obligation to start debugging and rewriting code so that it reaches a state where it can be submitted. It is great if they do so, but one should not expect them to do so.

    I dont think that everything belongs in the port tree. Being told that it does not, should not automatically be taken a personal insult.

    >Many reviewers want things to be 100% absolutely perfect when a submission hits >their desk, so all they have to do is click “merge” and be done with it. If >things are not perfect, then the submission will either sit idle forever, or >worse, passive aggressive commentary starts.

  • by KirillPanov on 11/3/23, 12:55 PM

    JavaScript isn't enabled in your browser, so this file can't be opened. Enable and reload.

  • by shrubble on 11/3/23, 5:50 AM

    The guy is making good suggestions...you need a community around an OS and he is focusing on that.

  • by nortonham on 11/3/23, 4:26 AM

    *Title was edited to meet limit

  • by Throw83858 on 11/3/23, 5:51 AM

    > You Don’t Know How To Code In C

    > I started using two decades ago...use old school style C on microcontrollers regularly!

    Those two statements do not necessary contradict each other. C evolves and skills required on large programs are vastly different from microcontrollers.

    Look from other side of an open-source developer and maintainer. You have to spend several hours polishing unfinished Pull Request, only to give other person credit as a "commiter". If you throw away the PR, and instead spend 10 minutes writing it yourself, you "stole" the credit.

    Many people do Pull Requests, only to pad their CV! Drama like this is why I do not accept any patches.