[mythtv-users] Mything thomething

[Robert McNamara]

On Fri, May 27, 2011 at 8:41 PM, Jay Ashworth <jra at baylink.com> wrote:

> MythTV these days suffers from what I call Mozilla Syndrome; OOo has it
> too, as does any other *really* big and complicated package: the snap
> answer in the FOSS community has always been "I look forward to your
> patch".  But these packages are so big and complicated that you have
> to not only marry them but give birth to their children before you're
> capable of having the first idea where to *look* for a place to patch
> something.

I can't say that I agree.  Fixing tiny "paper cut" bugs like typos or
tiny logic errors are an excellent way to begin, and how I began with
myth.  I knew nothing of the code, and had submitted a great many
patches before I developed any real intimacy with the code.  Granted,
your first patch, or tenth patch, or even fiftieth patch might not fix
the showstopper everyone's been upset about for years, but every
little bit helps.  Moreover, I started with myth with no programming
skills whatsoever, and found myself the maintainer of one or two of
the more fundamental plugins within a year.

Anyone who wants to know where to look to fix a problem is extremely
welcome win #mythtv on freenode, we'll be happy to guide you towards
the right spot in the source, as well as try to provide assistance in
seeing how the pieces fit together.  No problem is too small.  You
have nothing to lose by trying.

That said, unless there's some question addressed directly to me, I'm
going to refrain from further comment in this thread as even though
I'm trying to be conciliatory, perpetuating the thread isn't really
serving any purpose.  We know the bugs are there, and are doing our
best to fix them (while still managing to keep a roof over our heads).

Robert