[Mailman-Developers] Informal "MEP" process, anyone?

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Thu Nov 17 10:45:20 CET 2005


>>>>> "Kevin" == Kevin McCann <kmccann at cruciverb.com> writes:

    Kevin> I guess I have to watch the words I choose. Erase the word
    Kevin> "beg",

No.  It's the right word for the behavior I've observed so far on the
MM lists.  (I'm excluding your most recent reply to Brad, which
demonstrates (to me, anyway) that you personally have done more than
"beg".)

    Kevin> I simply mean that there is a clear requirement for easier
    Kevin> integration and people have expressed that need.

Word choice, again.  That people are in need is clear, their
requirements are not clear to me, and from what I've observed on the
MM lists, not to Barry & Co either.

    Kevin> Rather than look at what has been done in the way of
    Kevin> patches I'd be more inclined to contribute toward a design
    Kevin> for MM3. I have actually worked on the specs for a
    Kevin> SQL-enabled MLM system, based on user and admin
    Kevin> requirements.

That would be a fine step forward!  Whether it works better than what
I suggested depends on how fast you get past the singularity of "I".
The point of the process I described (and its model, ie the Python
Enhancement Proposal process) is to show that there's broad or deep
support in the community.  Whatever else you do, you need to get
concrete discussion going to show that there is a group of "enough"
users with consensus on what the "important" requirements are, and
what those requirements are.

    Kevin> It would be nice to see developments happen in the MM
    Kevin> project, but ultimately another project may be required to
    Kevin> make certain things happen.

Oh, it probably will end up being another project, and it'll get to
something merely useful in about the same effort and time that would
have taken the Mailman project to excellence.  We've seen that happen
often enough.  :-(

-- 
School of Systems and Information Engineering http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
               Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
              ask what your business can "do for" free software.


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