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Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 14:45:56 -0500
From: Christopher Faylor <cgf AT redhat DOT com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: An easy (but possibly time-consuming) test case for Make hanging
Message-ID: <20010307144556.B21275@redhat.com>
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References: <NEBBJPGNBOKKDAEIIMIKKEGECEAA DOT jpollock AT curl DOT com> <20010307113726 DOT I18117 AT redhat DOT com> <20010307191257 DOT 6727 DOT qmail AT lizard DOT curl DOT com>
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In-Reply-To: <20010307191257.6727.qmail@lizard.curl.com>; from jik@curl.com on Wed, Mar 07, 2001 at 02:12:57PM -0500

On Wed, Mar 07, 2001 at 02:12:57PM -0500, Jonathan Kamens wrote:
>>I sincerely doubt that anyone else is going to be interested in fixing
>>your problem for you.
>
>Yes, it is "our problem," in that it is affecting our work, but it is
>also a bug in Cygwin.  Most people who maintain software, free or
>otherwise, appreciate it when people report bugs.  Most software
>maintainers understand that they know much more about their code than
>the people who use it, and thus if a user reports a bug and gives
>instructions for reproducing it, the software maintainer is more
>qualified at that point to debug it than the user is.  Certainly, in
>all the years that I have been maintaining free software, any time
>someone has sent me a bug report and explained how to reproduce the
>bug, I have taken the time to attempt to reproduce it, and to fix it if
>I could indeed reproduce it.
>
>But hey, if you're not interested in fixing bugs in the software you
>maintain, that's your right.  Whatever.

Sadly, I'm not willing to track down a multi-processor machine that I
can run for days to duplicate your problem.  Since you are such a
software expert you may be familiar with the concept of devoting time to
working on problems that affect the majority of people rather than
spending vast amounts of one's time investigating problems for one user.

I'm sure you are familiar (at least in theory) with the constraints of
having only so much time to devote to non-paying activities.

>>The other alternative is to purchase a support contract with Red Hat
>>and pay for our professional services.
>
>It's so nice to see a free software maintainer demanding money from a
>user before being willing to fix a bug.  That's so in the spirit of
>free software.

I was suggesting a potential option for getting your problem fixed in
a timely fashion.  I rarely suggest this here but you seemed to be
desperate.

Also, please reread the sentence above and tell me where you see a
"demand" anywhere.  Or, is this similar to your "demand" that I spend
umpteen hours tracking down the cygwin problem that you've unearthed so
that your company can benefit from this free software?

I probably should have made it clear that I have put this bug, like all
bugs that I see reported here, on my todo list.  It isn't likely that I,
personally, will get to debugging the problem anytime soon, though.

>>  If someone submits a patch or has a specific question beyond "Here's an
>>  strace log.  What's going on???" I'll respond to it with my usual
>>  alacrity.
>
>But Chris, you've already responded about this "with your usual
>alacrity."

Thanks!  It's nice to know that I'm appreciated!

cgf

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