[fpc-devel] Interface scope incompatibility with Delphi

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Wed, 10 Nov 2010, Martin Schreiber wrote:

> On Wednesday, 10. November 2010 11.24:52 Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
>>
>>>> Nowhere is the Delphi behaviour guaranteed, not even by Delphi.
>>>
>>> Well, I can always argue that FPC tries to clone/mimic Delphi behaviour
>>> in many ways... it's that little FPC design goal called "delphi
>>> compatibility". Think of all the poor developers trying to port their
>>> Delphi code to FPC.  ;-)
>>
>> Yes, valid and documented code is supported.
>> This is invalid code which just so happens to work.
>>
> FPC could implement, document and guarantee the very useful and sometimes
> necessary behaviour maybe?

Sure, if we are agreed on what is necessary.

Martin, I understand your needs. You must understand the limitations of FPC.

This is open source: essentially a hobby project for us.

It's meant to be fun, we spend time on it as we can and as it pleases us. 
We have pointed this out many times. We also point out that we have paying
day-time jobs. Crudely put: I am stealing time from my employer by answering
your mails.

It is therefor your (as in 'the users') duty to convince us that the particular 
features you want (or need) are worth spending our time on. If you fail to
convince us, don't fret, because you were warned that this is a hobby project.

We do not refuse features for fun or because the wind happens to blow from a
certain direction. We always argue our point. You may or may not agree with
the point, but we are the ones you (as in "the users") expect to do the work.

If you think more time should be spent on certain features: organize a
foundation that pays a developer to do so. I'm sure that many patches
will be welcomed and accepted if they do not violate the basic principles
FPC stands for. Percentually, the number of patches that is refused is VERY
low. The few ones that are refused, tend to make a lot of noise, and in 
doing so they of course distort the picture.

The people who base their business on FPC should maybe realize that 
relying on hobbyists is a risk. We've long reached the point where 
the FPC core team is stretched to the limit for the tasks at hand, 
and you're feeling the consequences of this. No-one denies this, on the
contrary.

So my advice: get the foundation off the ground. Ensure the future of FPC
and your own business, if you happen to rely on FPC.

I will be glad to be the liaison between the foundation and the rest of the
team. And yes, it is yet another task I will be taking.

Michael.