Re: [lm@bitmover.com: Re: Self-introduction]

["Eric S. Raymond" <es...@thyrsus.com>]

Larry McVoy <lm...@bitmover.com>:
> Eric, let's set the record straight on this one.  First of all, you
> can't possibly be claiming you invented the changeset abstraction, right?

Nope, it was way too obvious to be original with me.  

But I do remember you wandering off in a daze after I laid it out,
then walking back up to me in the same daze a while later and blurting
out "Eric!  That's *brilliant*!"  

I was very amused.  If you were trying to flatter me, you didn't
succeed; I mainly wondered how a guy as bright as you could have
missed coming up with the idea sooner.  I discarded the hypothesis
that you're actually a superficial idiot, concluded you had merely
been too close to the problem for perspective, and promptly put the
incident out of my mind.

> I let you believe that you did more than you did simply to stroke your
> ego in hopes of you fixing up that mess you call VC mode so that it would
> work with BK.

Advice: don't try to manipulate me, Larry.  It only pisses me off.
And don't admit to playing these kinds of games on a public list; it
will piss other people off who matter more than I do.  

(Actually, it would be better for you if you didn't play such games at
all.  But clearly you're not wise enough to know that yet.  A few more
years and failures may remedy this -- I hope so, anyway.)

And yes, I know VC is a mess.  Once upon a time it wasn't, but that
was before someone else's clumsy merge of CVS -- I wince when I look
at that code.  Sigh.  I really should take it back from the present
maintainer and fix it; you're right enough about that, it's been 
bugging me at intervals for the last five years...

> We'd be happy to see you working with Subversion, you are a sharp
> guy and I'm sure the Subversion people will welcome your assistance.

The really annoying part of all this is that I think I agree that bk is a
better design than any CVS workalike.  And no offense meant to the Subversion
guys when I say that; they've chosen to emulate CVS for other reasons and
good ones.

Larry, you're a brilliant designer, and for whatever perverse reasons
I kind of like you in person.  If your license weren't poisonous, and
if you didn't have a (self-admitted!) tendency to turn into a raving
asshole at semi-regular intervals, I'd be happy to work with you.
And, actually, I could cope with your asshole tendencies if the
license were fixed.

As it is, whatever influence I have and whatever resources VA can
bring to bear are going to go to your competition.  Your choices
have consequences; this is one of them.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government,
no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to
keep and bear arms.  [...] the right of the citizens to bear arms is
just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard
against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which
historically has proved to be always possible.
        -- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1960