Re: [HEADS-UP] BSD sort is the default sort in -CURRENT

On 06/27/2012 07:30 AM, Pedro Giffuni wrote:
> 
> 
> --- Mer 27/6/12, Doug Barton <dougb_at_FreeBSD.org> ha scritto:
> ...
>>
>>> I believe we do not
>>> make this kind of work with any vendor code that is
>> being updated in the
>>> base;
>>
>> Au contraire, we frequently avoid updating the old versions
>> of things we have in the base precisely because they are
>> not bug-for-bug compatible with existing behaviors that we
>> count on.
>>
> 
> 
> Really?? I guess you are speaking for bind,

Nope.

> because the idea
> behind updating and piece of software is precisely shaking
> bugs.

Nope.

> I would think only the maintainer of the package has the
> authority to make any request in the lines of being
> bug-for-bug compatible

You have a seriously wrong idea of "maintainer." The community owns the
software, it's up to the community to decide how it should work.
Historically we have looked at the maintainer as the person who
volunteers to take care of code, not the person who has the exclusive
lock on it.

> and in the case of GNU sort and
> GNU grep they are both unmaintained and replacements
> are welcome.

Actually both are maintained, it's just that we don't want to import the
new GNU versions. And yes, having BSD versions of these core tools is a
nice goal, but it's not one we should pursue for its own sake.

> Please let's stop being an obstacle towards people
> bringing real progress to FreeBSD!

In the case of grep, there were a fairly large number of people who
agreed that a BSD grep with orders of magnitude worse performance than
the previous version was not something we, as a project, were willing to
stomach. Sufficiently such that the default was switched back.

So can we please stop pretending that it's me who's the problem, and
start looking at these things rationally?

Doug