[fpc-other] [fpc-pascal] Google Code closing down

[vfclists .]

On 15 March 2015 at 16:13, Sven Barth <pascaldragon at googlemail.com> wrote:

> On 15.03.2015 15:11, vfclists . wrote:
>
>> I think the main FPC developers need to realize that sooner or later
>> they are allow going to retire from FPC development and move onto other
>> things, or just retire form working life,  or finally to the great happy
>> retirement home in the sky, and a new generation will have to take over
>> FPC development. They have to plan and workout a succession, and that
>> succession will have to involve a new generation of programmers who
>> learned different ways of working,  and that more or less involves Git
>> and a whole lot of other tools.
>>
>> Somehow all this indifference to Git bothers me because it seems they
>> are ignoring the greater realities of life. If a new generation are
>> going to get involved with FPC and Lazarus development, and the main
>> developers are really concerned with all the time and effort they put
>> into this great product not going to waste when they retire then they
>> ought to reconsider the indifference or aversion to Git. This is what
>> the aversion or indifference to Git signifies me. It doesn't mean that I
>> don't think they don't have any plans for how the project will be
>> continued in the long term future, but there seems to an indifference in
>> the appeal the working culture has for newer generation. They need
>> foster a passion and a commitment (fanboy fanaticism may be the right
>> word) to Lazarus and FPC in a new generation.
>>
>
> Users that want to be developers for FPC should first and foremost love
> the language. What backend we use to manage the code should not be
> important then. There are even successful projects out there that still use
> CVS, so don't come with "if it's not Git then no one will come".
>
> Regards,
> Sven
>
>
My reply is not so much about Git being superior to SVN, its more about how
to broaden the appeal of Lazarus and FreePascal to a new generation who
will carry it forward into the future. I know that FreePascal developers
are grizzled veterans who have seen lots of new fads come and go, but how
do you draw in a new generation of users to a good product, when there are
so many competing (and mostly inferior) alternatives around?

The 'real men use the DOS/Git command line', 'real men use SVN', 'real men
don't drink Diet Coke', 'real men use Emacs' image doesn't help. It is more
about image rather than substance.

I am not saying that switching from Git to SVN will popularize FreePascal
and Lazarus, but choice of version control aside, what can broaden the
appeal of FreePascal and Lazarus to a new generation. It probably warrants
a different thread.

I know this isn't the style of FreePascal and Lazarus's developers who are
a group of dedicated volunteers, but Pascal is still quite popular in
Europe, and it may be time to seek some funds from some European funding
agency and give FreePascal and  Lazarus developers, together with  the
whole Pascal ecosystem the major push it definitely deserves.

-- 
Frank Church

=======================
http://devblog.brahmancreations.com
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