[Xastir-dev] A likely direction?

[Curt, WE7U]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2010, Curt, WE7U wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Aug 2010, Tom Hayward wrote:
>
>> http://edu.kde.org/marble/#developers
>> 
>> I wonder if the Marble widget will facilitate the needs of
>> Xastir2--that would make for a clean way to share code.
>
> Certainly a possibility.  We need to look at all of the possible
> angles and then start down _some_ path.  We've been talking about it
> for too long and the code base is a bit stagnant as a result.

Any further comments on this thread?

I do NOT wish to start the "what do we want to see in the new
version" discussion at this point on the mailing lists or privately.
I'm tired of the annual Xastir2 wish-list discussions which last for
weeks, then no decisions made / no code written.  They get us
nowhere.

We also get bogged down in discussions of how to organize the new
development, use-cases, development model, etc.  It appears that our
group is not able to jump through that level of S/W engineering
hoops at this time.  Perhaps that can be a later step in our
evolution.

We voted (years ago) to go with C++ as the language for Xastir2.
I'm good with that.  It's at least a solid decision, one of the few
to derive from the earlier discussions.

One person or a small group working off to the side could achieve a
baseline of working code quickly.  That same group having to listen
to debates on project organization / wishlist discussions will get
bogged down in details,  producing little.  Once working code is
achieved we can kick-start the wishlist/prioritizing discussion,
then fill in the baseline code with needed features in priority
order, coding all the while to keep things moving.

Shall I strike out on my own, looking for help after I've achieved
some minimal functionality?

If some subset of developers wish to help in the early stages,
understand that we need to make fast decisions in order to keep
moving.  We also need developers to continue with bug-fixes for the
Xastir-1 codebase so that it doesn't become stagnant.

If others wish to join in the initial coding I propose we keep our
team discussions off the main Xastir lists to avoid distractions
until we achieve a working baseline.  I also request that if you
plan only to "listen-in" and not code that you not volunteer at this
time.  I plan to code, learn, code some more, keep moving forward.

--we7u