post FOSDEM

[Max Kanat-Alexander]

On 02/11/2010 02:22 PM, Gabor Szabo wrote:
> Maybe it is just me and no one of the other use.perl.org readers think
> the same but I am still not sure if the Bugzilla team likes the fact
> that it is written in Perl or that you hate every inch of it?

	I think that we talked about this in one of our Bugzilla Meetings, and
basically, Bugzilla is written in Perl, and it's written in Perl no
matter whether each of us loves it or hates it. Perl has some awesome
things about it, and some bad things about it. (By the way, as a side
note, every programmer should have experience writing professionally in
multiple languages, so that they can understand what's good about each
language and what's bad about it--with only single-language experience
it's hard to make such a judgment.)

	It's a programming language, a tool to and end. I don't think it's an
emotional issue, it's just a technical fact that Bugzilla is in Perl.

> Also - again IMHO - Bugzilla needs to send the message of using
> *modern tools* in its development. (e.g. CVS  still being the
> recommended way to fetch the source code is NOT sending this
> messages).

	The switch happened just days ago, and pretty much all the developer
documentation is written by me, in addition to almost all the
administrative details of the project being done by me, in addition to
50% or more of the development of the project being done by me, and I'm
not getting paid for any of it. So yes, I agree that the documentation
needs to be fixed, and it will be done soon.

	However, CVS is still going to be easier for some people than bzr,
because far more people are familiar with CVS. So we'll keep around some
CVS instructions as well.

> the local::lib/PERL5LIB stuff I am trying to patch,

	You're actually the first person ever to mention a problem with it, I
believe. :-) Otherwise we would have fixed it earlier.

> not using Makefile.PL or Build.PL,
> not using "standard" CPAN layout:

	Mmm, I tend to think that, at the moment, installation would actually
become more difficult than it is now, with Module::Install, particularly
on Windows. There have been a few other people who have made this
suggestion when they were new to Bugzilla, but usually as people become
more familiar with the codebase, the community, and Bugzilla's install
process on various platforms, they see that it's better the way that it
is. However, if you can demonstrate to us that in the context of
Bugzilla's userbase and community, that there would be significant
technical advantages to restructuring to a more normal CPAN layout, then
it's something that we could certainly do now, since we're using a VCS
that understands renames. It would be a lot of work and a big change for
us, though, so we'd definitely want to see some strong technical advantages.

> I'll try to allocate some time and look at the project to give you
> more unwanted suggestions and maybe even a few patches.

	Hahahaha. Your suggestions are not unwanted at all, I'm really glad to
have them, personally. :-)

> I am not sure if it should be done on http://bugzillaupdate.wordpress.com/
> or on some other blog (maybe on http://blogs.perl.org/ ) but I am quite sure
> the entires should appear on both http://ironman.enlightenedperl.org/ and on
> http://perlsphere.net/ that are read by many people.

	This is certainly something to think about, and it's cool to have
experienced suggestions from somebody with good experience in the area.

	-Max
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