gEDA-user: strange build failure

[Stuart Brorson]

On Tue, 5 Dec 2006, Adrian Nania wrote:

> [snip]
> I agree with Ales -- a Windows port would open the floodgates to hords
> of whining clueless fools.  Why should we subject ourselves to that?
> Supporting the clueful users (and there are quite a few) is already a
> big job which we do exclusively for fun. Better to keep the barrier to
> entry a little high since it's not fun to support the clueless --
> particularly without any compensation.
>
> As you put it here, gEDA project must accessible to a handful of
> software developers only. Maybe I am wrong to suspect the main audience
> for this tool must be on the hardware developing side. You're being
> funny to name anyone else clueless fools.

Different people have different opinions on this issue.  One, easily
defendable position is this:  The main target audience for this
software is *ourselves*, the developers.  We do it for our own
amusement, and for our own use.  However, we *do* share it with the
world, and *are* responsive to feature requests and bug reports since
it's part of the fun.  But only as long as the feature requests and
bug fixes are *fun* for us.  Supporting a Windoze port is not my idea
of fun, so I won't do a Windoze port.  But if somebody else
creates a Windoze port, I say: good work!  I just don't want to
support it.

The secondary audience for gEDA is users clueful and resourceful
enough to get it working on their own boxen themselves.  I am
personally happy and proud to have contributed to a project which
seems to have thousands of downloads, and certainly scores -- if not
hundreds -- of active users.  Their enjoyment and productivity is part
of my fun.  For that reason I also try to make it reasonably easy to
install and use the bits of software I have contributed.  I *do*
expect that they require only minimal handholding, however.

In any event, my goal is *not* to emulate a private company and
product software for as many users as possible.  Working on gEDA only 
provides me fun (and not money), so I am only prepared to work on
things which are *fun*.  Producing *commerical* sofware involves doing
many things which aren't fun, like maintaining current documentation,
running lots of regression tests, and supporting angry, cranky,
idiotic users.  I only do unpleasant things when I am *paid* for it
(or if my wife insists).  I don't know why you expect that I -- or any
other open-source developer -- would do something unpleasant just
because it would make your life easier or easier.

Therefore, if you want a Windoze port, try doing it yourself.
Or be prepared to pay my consulting rates.

Cheers,

Stuart