[fluid-dev] My absence and misunderstandings

[Josh Green]

Hello FluidSynth list,

As I have mentioned a few times before, I've been rather overwhelmed
with work and what not as of late.  Things have calmed down a bit now
and I have more free time.  During the last month though, I wasn't able
to keep up with FluidSynth email and it began accruing in my inbox.
When I would think about it, it would just make me feel guilty about my
lack of dedication to the project, which just led me to try and avoid it
altogether.  This pattern is rather unproductive and unpleasant and I'm
working to change it.  We are all here volunteering our time and the
last thing we should be feeling is that its just another drudgery or
"work".  In fact we all deserve praise and reward for the time, effort
and enthusiasm we bring the project.

After combing through my emails, I realize the extent of some of the
misunderstandings that occurred.  I want to start be re-iterating that
my 1.1.0 proposal, was just that..  A PROPOSAL.  I do not want to
obsolete or override anyone's efforts if it goes against the project as
a whole.  The primary example of this has been Bernat's work on the 2.0
branch.  I didn't receive his email responding to my proposal:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/fluid-dev/2009-04/msg00062.html

and only read it in the archives after he mentioned to me that I might
be missing some of the conversation.

To summarize my current understanding and thoughts:

- The path to 1.1.0 is going to largely be about learning to work
together, being a newly formed team and all, and figuring out the
development organization of the project.

- Not a whole lot of changes have occurred with the 2.x branch yet,
though that may not accurately reflect the amount of time and
investment.  It seems like there is still some understanding that I am
missing in regards to what Bernat would like to see, as far as the
direction of the project.  Part of this misunderstanding has definitely
been because of my personal change in perspective.  I had originally
thought it would be best to do a more drastic overhaul of FluidSynth
immediately.  My perspective changed largely due to the recent interest
from others in development and the idea that the underlying framework
could be changed without breaking the API and would in turn pave the way
for 2.0 and a new improved API.  I hope we can come to some better
understanding as to how to proceed in a satisfactory manner for all
involved.

- David Henningsson's patch on the MIDI timing issues should be
committed to trunk (1.x) and perfected as needed.

- New patches and bugs should be added to the ticket system in addition
to being posted to the list or risk being overlooked.  We can politely
tell clueless users to create tickets or if we are in a good mood,
create one for them.

- Pedro pointed out that we probably don't need to create a concrete
schedule for development at this point.  Thinking this over, I think
that makes sense.  Thinking in more general terms though, it would be
good to have some sort of idea of when 1.1.0 will be released, as a
goal.  3 months seems good to me (sometime mid/late July).

- Maintaining compatibility with current software is a worthy goal.  As
Jimmy mentioned, a compatibility wrapper could be created for 2.x, when
a new API is developed.



That is my current perspective on project direction.  I would like to
extend an invitation to Bernat in particular, to communicate his
thoughts on his work with 2.x and how we can develop a team strategy to
move forward.  I also encourage others to be a part of this process.

Cheers!
        Josh Green

P.S. I'll be catching up on some of the past emails, so expect some
replies to old posts, etc.  Thanks for your understanding!