Re: Release planning (was: Re: Status report)

On 7/13/2004 10:23 PM, Christopher Kings-Lynne wrote:

>> I was thinking of something much simpler where Jan would create an ARC
>> patch against 7.4.X and have it either in /contrib for 7.4.X or on our
>> ftp servers, or on a web site. I could create a mechanism so SELECT
>> version() would display Jan's add-on.
>
> I think you guys just need to learn to become comfortable with being
> hard-nosed about this. Just Do Not Care about people who "want" ARC
> right this second. Do you see them calling up Oracle and saying please
> backport the new stuff from 11i-devel so we can use it now please?

Hmmm ... I wonder what you think who those people are who "want" ARC
right this second, and who "you guys" are on the other hand.

To fill you in a little, I am the PostgreSQL CORE team member Jan Wieck,
who burned Afilias payroll hours to implement the ARC buffer replacement
strategy. The feature has been completed and fully contributed under the
BSD license way ahead of any possible release schedule. I have had
several requests for backports, but consider the feature too delicate to
make such patch available. Don't worry, it's not one of my goals to get
this into any release, the reason I am personally touched by this is not
because it affects my checking account in any way.

What touches me here is the fact that the PostgreSQL Open Source Project
under the BSD license seems starting to care a lot more about some press
releases and silly news splashes, than to care about real features
contributed under the terms and conditions of the BSD license by serious
members of the Open Source Community. Which part of the storage manager,
that Futjitsu uses so that their customers don't need ARC, the
background writer or vacuum at all, do you think will be contributed any
time soon?

Don't get me wrong here, I don't have a problem with someone making
money out of my 8+ years of contributions to this project. But I do have
a problem with those efforts getting in my way of contributing.

Come again about hard-nosing, please.

Jan

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