[Lazarus] Is Lazarus project in a downward spiral?

[Marco van de Voort]

On Mon, Mar 08, 2010 at 07:28:44PM -0500, Doug Chamberlin wrote:
> > Yet, in this very thread it is clear that users are too lazy to read a 2
> > page SVN tutorial to get involved in development. This is crazy!
> >    
> 
> Wow. You must have a deeply held belief in self-fulfilling prophesy, eh?

It was a bit tongue-in-cheek of course, but there is a bit truth in it.

For FPC, easy and clear patches are often committed during work time, and
the harder ones are left for the weekend or an evening with a lot of time.

But then something comes up at the weekend, it is postponed another week,
etc etc, I think everybody can recognize how it goes.

I've been fixing and closing/triaging bugs, an handful a week on average, in
the FPC project for about 10 years now (though I often take fairly easy
ones, easier combinable with work):

The guidelines for patches are the same in nearly every project, and mostly
logical:

- keep patches clean, strip unnecessary rearrangements etc, and focus on the
  problem at hand.
- Avoid forcing some own style or opinion on sources. Stick with the
  existing codeing style.
- If some bit is to be discussed, and the other parts can be committed
  without it, split the patch into multiple ones.
- Provide good descriptions, make clear you have reviewed the problem from
  several sides.
- If there is a multiplatform angle, please provide implementations for the
  big three (Windows/Linux/OS X). It is a considerable risk to commit an
  implementation for one, with only vague assurances (like a single remark
  about a call existing on Linux or so, without portability details) about
  the others.

Even then it is hard. Despite the "God complex" we are accused of, we don't
instantantly overview all consequences either (but might see more than most
submitters do, due to experience), something I assume real deities do.
(which would be a great way to reduce bugs)

In general, during FPC commits I strangely find that both Delphi
compatibility and multiplatform angle are often underestimated.