From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Bastien Subject: Re: [RFC] Moving "manual.org" into core Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2018 18:39:28 +0100 Message-ID: <876069cddb.fsf@bzg.fr> References: <87bmhooaj9.fsf@nicolasgoaziou.fr> <87y3j8dw45.fsf@bzg.fr> <87lgf8f93b.fsf@nicolasgoaziou.fr> <87lgf89lro.fsf@gnu.org> <87k1uq4n90.fsf@nicolasgoaziou.fr> <87k1uql7it.fsf@tsdye.com> <87r2oy57tq.fsf@bzg.fr> <876069y1ah.fsf@tsdye.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:54699) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1etGYq-0004NF-1Y for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 06 Mar 2018 12:39:37 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1etGYm-000494-01 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 06 Mar 2018 12:39:36 -0500 List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Emacs-orgmode" To: "Thomas S. Dye" Cc: Glenn Morris , Achim Gratz , Org Mode List , Nicolas Goaziou Hello Thomas, as a preamble, let me say that I appreciate the directness of your message and the civil tone of this conversation. I understand there are frustrations lingering around, I have my own too, so let's keep this thread as constructive as possible, because we all deserve it as a community. Let me separate two questions: one is my attitude in dealing with this migration; another one is my general ability as a maintainer. The first question naturally leads to the other one, but the last one exists per se and I'll take this opportunity to say a few words. So, about this manual migration. Here is a quick timeline: In 2013, I said it was a nice experiment. In 2014, I said I would be "more than happy" if you and others could progress on this: http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/85574 In 2016, Charles quoted me saying: "Where Bastien says: "the day we can export org.org to org.texi with very little headache and ad hoc configuration, yes, we will make the move."" In January 2018, I said: "Having the manual in .org is a great achievement, congrats to anyone who worked on this titanic task! I'm all for editing manual.org instead of org.texi in the long run." In March 2018, I said there was no blocker, "please move ahead". So I don't think I have been scolding you or anyone working on this, quite on the contrary. In my message from 2014, I said I won't have time to dedicate to the project. And while I was kind of skeptical about the idea, I have been consistent in sending encouragements and in not blocking it. Maybe I should have explained why I was skeptical: but in 2013-2015, it was just a gut feeling, and expressing it would probably have been unproductive; then when I had this project to develop Org from within Emacs, I was not so sure about it either, so I was first cautious not to raise premature objections. When Nicolas sollicited the list again in january, I tried to make a few inputs: not as constructive as I'd wish they were, but still. Now, my main input is this: LET'S GO! So... I completely recognize my general lack of responsiveness is a problem and it may have been a problem in this case, but I hope you see that I carefully tried not to block anyone's work on this. Again: asking inputs from emacs-devel@ is not a way of delaying or blocking, it is just something normal to do considering the move. So now let's close this issue, I'll write to emacs-devel@ and we will make the switch. Now, about my general experience and attitude as a maintainer. I started to take care of Org-mode in 2011, on January 1st. Seven years ago... time flies :) I've been involved in code and communication on the list on a daily basis until septembre 2012, the day my daughter was born. Stats may prove my memory is wrong here, but I think I stayed closely committed until septembre 2014. Enters life: I had a burn out, a break up and I was broke. Like in: completely broke, no job, no place to stay. I asked Nicolas whether he would considered to be the maintainer on several occasions -- the first one dating back to november 2011. We always had a frank conversation about this. Nicolas declined, but we managed to find a balanced way of collaborating and I confidently moved from being proactive to being more of a release manager. Despite not being the "official" maintainer, Nicolas is the de facto one since 2015. And again, I cannot express how much I owe to Nicolas and his consistency for the last three years. But believe me: I wish I could continue to spend one or two hours per day coding and communicating on the mailing list: because, it's kind of a home for me. But I could not. And I cannot. So here is my plan: - We make the switch to using manual.org. - We release Org 9.2. - I extract the contrib/ directory from org-mode.git into a separate org-contrib.git to live on code.orgmode.org (something I've wanted for long). - I go down my org-mode TODO list to see if there are importants bugs and features I wish to work on. - In the meantime, I find a new maintainer. - We release Org 10 and the new maintainer takes on. I think the whole process can take from 2 to 3 months, and I'm ready to dedicate more time to Org during these months. WDYT? -- Bastien