SQL::Statement unusable in major Linux distributions

[H.Merijn Brand]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:25:05 +0000, Paul Beardsell <paul at Beardsell.com>
wrote:

> I do not have the up to date skill set to do quite a lot of what you
> suggest.  I'm much more an applications programmer than a perl maintainer.

a perl maintainer - which I also happen to be - is a major difference
from a module author or maintainer.

Writing a module is more like writing an application. It fills in gaps
that are not available in the original language. FWIW nothing is
stopping you to write your own modules if you do not agree to what is
made available (for FREE!). Look at Getopt::* to see how many authors
think that Getopt::Long can be improved (or try to see which Template
module would best fit your needs, or what XML module will do exactly
how you view your problem).

Perl has the motto: TIMTOWDI (There Is More Than One Way To Do It)
If you don't like what is offered, create your own. Just criticizing
what already is available (without *listening* to what the author has
to say is not helping there).

> I too have provided code for free, but I fail to see the substance in
> the point you are making.

The author has moved forward, and clearly told you to make new test
cases against 1.22. He has abandoned 1.15 and will not have a look at
that ever again. Reviving bug won't help.

Prove that your case still holds on 1.22 and you make a chance. That is
all he asked. How hard is that to understand?

> Perhaps the principle reward for programming (cooking, writing,
> painting, making music) is an audience, an appreciative audience.

Our audience is the complete set of module users (and co-authors).
Other mail has proven the fact that our work is highly appreciated.

> The oppotunity for a larger appreciative audience is certainly lost.

I see no prove of that.

> By far the most people who have S:S on their computers who have tried
> to use it must just think it is rubbish.

"by far the most"? I again have quite a different view on reality.

> The only widely visible versions of S:S do not work.

Untrue statement. It doen't work for just a minor set of `things'
Which is why there are updates available, and why 1.15 clearly is less
than (older than) 1.22. Bux have been fixed. Move forward.

> Why this is a matter of indifference to those involved in S:S
> escapes me.

We don't follow fud.

> Could it be (mischievous quetion warning) that some would rather be
> in charge of something small and seemingly broken than be swept
> aside in the stampede of eager users turned maintainers?
> 
> One of the things that you think we should do, encouraging distro
> maintainers to include later versions of SQL::Statement,

Yes

> is best done by allowing me to post a critical bug at CPAN against the
> version of SQL::Statement

Sure, but post it with the distribution manager (or whatever the
distribution wants), not with the module that has obviously moved
forward. The fact that Debian/Fedora/SUSE/Ubuntu/... does not up
their modules to the most recent version can hardly be seen as a
bug in the module, right?

> they all include in their distro's.  That would flag the issue to
> them.  I ask you to intercede and to ask Jens to leave my bug
> report alone, if he won't address it.

He will not address it if you file it to something old. Period.
I think it is correct if he closes bugs on old releases if he thinks
that it has been addressed/fixed in newer versions. That is why newer
versions are released

> You *do* have the environment available to run my test code.  It's very
> short and sweet.  Please do so, it's attached to the bug report.

I have also not much spare time, and - as SQL::Statement is not my
module - and you did not file against a recent combination, I feel free
to ignore those reports too. I'm here just to defend Jens' strategy,
which I happen to backup. FWIW I never met Jens, and we are not close
friends or so. We are just trying to work together to get to the best
result achievable.

> Paul Beardsell
> Paul at Beardsell.com

-- 
H.Merijn Brand  http://tux.nl      Perl Monger  http://amsterdam.pm.org/
using & porting perl 5.6.2, 5.8.x, 5.10.x, 5.11.x on HP-UX 10.20, 11.00,
11.11, 11.23, and 11.31, OpenSuSE 10.3, 11.0, and 11.1, AIX 5.2 and 5.3.
http://mirrors.develooper.com/hpux/           http://www.test-smoke.org/
http://qa.perl.org      http://www.goldmark.org/jeff/stupid-disclaimers/