[mythtv-users] Development update

[Michael T. Dean]

Andrew Close wrote:

>On 10/28/05, Jesse Guardiani <jesse at wingnet.net> wrote:
>
>>I think the problem that many of us have with trying SVN is that we only
>>have one mythtv system,
>>and while we'd love to try SVN, we have family that expect Myth to be
>>reliable. :) So all we have
>>left is curiosity...
>>    
>>
>i too am curious about the future of MythTv.  but i know better than
>to ask about it. ;)  it would be cool if there were updates from
>decisions made by the devs that were posted on occassion.
>  
>
I'd rather they spend their time writing code for Myth.  That way, I'm 
pleasantly surprised when I see new functionality--as opposed to 
wondering why this "vapor ware" is never being completed.  ;)

>Jesse, one thing you could try is looking at some of  the newer distro
>releases.  KnoppMyth R5A22 was recently released and includes MythTv
>from SVN.  it is a fairly quick and easy install on newer hardware. 
>if you're comfortable with tweaking Linux then i would say go ahead
>and install it on your production machine (do a little research first,
>and make backups ;)
>  
>
AFAICT, it's 0.18-fixes, which primarily only contains bug fixes and no 
new features.  KnoppMyth experts, please feel free to correct me...

>but i would be hesitant to tell anyone that just 'uses' MythTv to
>upgrade their production system regardless of the distro being used. 
>  
>
Right.  Thank you, Jesse and Andrew for taking this approach.  This is 
the right approach to take unless you're willing to invest considerable 
time in "doing your homework" both before /and/ after the upgrade.  
Anyone who decides to upgrade to SVN has the *responsibility* of keeping 
up with the -dev and -commits lists (which takes a good bit of time).

Those who don't keep keep up with the lists/do their homework often 
cause a lot of developer time to be wasted.--especially now that Trac is 
in place.  Very often, when something changes in SVN, a well-meaning 
user (wanting to help the project) who hasn't been keeping up with the 
changes will think he/she has identified a bug.  So, instead of posting 
to the lists to verify that it's a bug, the user submits a ticket to 
Trac.  Then a dev closes the ticket with a short message saying that 
it's invalid.  Since the user hasn't been keeping up with the changes, 
he/she doesn't understand the short message, so the user reopens the 
ticket, forcing the developer to spend significantly more time writing 
up a longer, more detailed description of the changes that have been 
made (and that were described in the previous commits/messages to the 
dev list)--sometimes this keeps happening several times.  All of this 
interaction has taken some of the time the developer could have been 
using to write more code and add more features.  And, since it all 
occurred on the Trac server instead of the lists, other users were 
unable to contribute and lessen the burden on the devs.

So, is it possible to make Trac refuse new tickets without a patch or a 
reference to a thread on the users or dev list?  IMHO, that would be 
very beneficial for the devs.  And, what's beneficial for the devs is 
beneficial for the users and their Myth boxes.  ;)

Mike