Mercurial > hg > aboriginal
comparison www/about.html @ 1597:15b4fc37d5f7
Minor tweaks to about page.
| author | Rob Landley <rob@landley.net> |
|---|---|
| date | Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:13:02 -0500 |
| parents | 455f8dec31a0 |
| children | ff283fe54626 |
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| 1596:59156cd2301a | 1597:15b4fc37d5f7 |
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| 292 <li>Make Android self-hosting</li> | 292 <li>Make Android self-hosting</li> |
| 293 </ul> | 293 </ul> |
| 294 </td></tr></table> | 294 </td></tr></table> |
| 295 | 295 |
| 296 <a name=hairball> | 296 <a name=hairball> |
| 297 <li><p><b>Untangle hairball build systems into distinct layers.</b></p></li> | 297 |
| 298 <h2><b>Untangle hairball build systems into distinct layers.</b></h2> | |
| 298 | 299 |
| 299 <p>The goal here is to separate what packages you can build from where and how | 300 <p>The goal here is to separate what packages you can build from where and how |
| 300 you can build them.</p> | 301 you can build them.</p> |
| 301 | 302 |
| 302 <p>For years, Red Hat only built under Red Hat, Debian only built under Debian, | 303 <p>For years, Red Hat only built under Red Hat, Debian only built under Debian, |
| 356 becuase they never tested anything but the config they ship. Making | 357 becuase they never tested anything but the config they ship. Making |
| 357 something like that work on a Hexagon processor, or making their | 358 something like that work on a Hexagon processor, or making their |
| 358 root filesystem work with a vanilla kernel, is a daunting task.</p> | 359 root filesystem work with a vanilla kernel, is a daunting task.</p> |
| 359 | 360 |
| 360 <a name=selfhost> | 361 <a name=selfhost> |
| 361 <li><p><b>Make Android self-hosting (musl, toybox, qcc).</b></p></li> | 362 <h2><b>Make Android self-hosting (musl, toybox, qcc).</b></h2> |
| 362 | 363 |
| 363 <p>Smartphones are replacing the PC, and if Android doesn't become self-hosting | 364 <p>Smartphones are replacing the PC, and if Android doesn't become self-hosting |
| 364 we may be stuck with locked down iPhone derivatives in the next generation.</p> | 365 we may be stuck with locked down iPhone derivatives in the next generation.</p> |
| 365 | 366 |
| 366 <blockquote> | 367 <blockquote> |
| 548 distinct failure modes:</p> | 549 distinct failure modes:</p> |
| 549 | 550 |
| 550 <p>1) Endless discussion that never results in actual code, because | 551 <p>1) Endless discussion that never results in actual code, because |
| 551 nobody can agree on a single course of action.</p> | 552 nobody can agree on a single course of action.</p> |
| 552 | 553 |
| 553 <p>2) The project forks itself to death: everybody goes up and codes their | 554 <p>2) The project forks itself to death: everybody goes off and codes up their |
| 554 preferred solution, but it's no easier to agree on a single approach after | 555 preferred solution, but it's no easier to agree on a single approach after |
| 555 the code exists so the forks never get merged.</p> | 556 the code exists so the forks never get merged.</p> |
| 556 | 557 |
| 557 <p>3) Delegating the problem to nobody, either by A) separating engine from | 558 <p>3) Delegating the problem to nobody, either by A) separating engine from |
| 558 interface and focusing on the engine in hopes that some glorious day somebody | 559 interface and focusing on the engine in hopes that some glorious day somebody |
| 559 will write an interface worth using, or B) making the interface so configurable | 560 will write an interface worth using, or B) making the interface so configurable |
| 560 that the fact it takes a week to learn what your options are and still has no | 561 that the fact it takes hours to figure out what your options are and still has |
| 561 sane defaults is now the end user's problem.</p> | 562 no sane defaults is now somehow the end user's fault.</p> |
| 562 | 563 |
| 563 <p>Open source development defeats Brooks' Law by leveraging empirical tests. | 564 <p>Open source development defeats Brooks' Law by leveraging empirical tests. |
| 564 Integrating the results of decoupled development efforts is made possible | 565 Integrating the results of decoupled development efforts is made possible |
| 565 by the ability to unequivocally determine which approaches are best (trusted | 566 by the ability to unequivocally determine which approaches are best (trusted |
| 566 engineers break ties, but it has to be pretty close and the arguments go back | 567 engineers break ties, but it has to be pretty close and the arguments go back |
| 571 | 572 |
| 572 <p>In the absence of empirical tests, this doesn't work. By their nature, | 573 <p>In the absence of empirical tests, this doesn't work. By their nature, |
| 573 aesthetic issues do not have emprical tests for "better" or "worse". | 574 aesthetic issues do not have emprical tests for "better" or "worse". |
| 574 Chinese food is not "better" than mexican food. But if you can't | 575 Chinese food is not "better" than mexican food. But if you can't |
| 575 decide what you're doing (if one chef insists on adding ketchup and another | 576 decide what you're doing (if one chef insists on adding ketchup and another |
| 576 bacon and a third ice cream) the end result is an incoherent mess.</p> | 577 bacon and a third ice cream) the end result is an incoherent mess. (At |
| 578 best you get beige and the DMV. Navigable with enough effort, but not | |
| 579 appealing.)</p> | |
| 577 | 580 |
| 578 <p>The way around this is to a have a single author with a clear vision | 581 <p>The way around this is to a have a single author with a clear vision |
| 579 in charge of the user interface, who can make aesthetic decisions that are | 582 in charge of the user interface, who can make aesthetic decisions that are |
| 580 coherent rather than "correct". Unfortunately when this does happen, the | 583 coherent rather than "correct". Unfortunately when this does happen, the |
| 581 open source community pressures the developer of a successful project to | 584 open source community pressures the developer of a successful project to |