[ruby-core:28351] Re: [ANN] Ruby 1.9.2dev has passed RubySpec!

> I know that some people really want windows support, and that you need
> spec clarification.  But unfortunately, there is no committer who not
> only are interested in RubySpec but also are familiar with windows.

A few suggestions that may pragmatically help with the windows support issues while recognizing the current resourcing concerns:

1) Those interested in getting key Windows issues resolved should create a Windows-specific issue summary page similar to http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/wiki/ruby/SomeCoreFeaturesFor192  This doesn't have to be an involved process as the fundamental concerns can be agreed upon by starting a new thread on this ML.  The issue summary makes it easy for all of us to quickly understand where to focus our limited resources.  It also makes it easy to remind ourselves (similar to what Marc has been doing) of the key Windows issues list and requesting resources on specific issues.


2) I request that the current committers who are responsible for resolving Windows-specific issues (Nakada-san?, Endoh-san?, ??) and Matz review the current process for how Windows issues are resourced, and communicate back how (specifically) you would like Windows developers to help work the issues.

We all recognize that we'll never have unlimited resources to do the things we'd like to do. But I also think we can come up with a process that allows us to better utilize existing resources and better leverage the Windows developer talents monitoring this list.

I also don't think the process needs to be overly complicated nor over-reaching.  "What are the simplest things we can do to make better progress on more quickly resolving the Windows issues?" should be the question.

Perhaps we could start off with something similar to:

a) Identify the key list of issues as discussed in (1)

b) Identify one current core committer (our Windows Champion) responsible for Windows patches committed to core. This does *not* mean that committer creates all the patches, but he/she has the final say on what goes into core.

c) Windows developers monitoring this ML regularly review the list of issues and coordinate the Windows Champion identified in (b).  This should enable Windows developers of different experience levels to contribute more easily while *not* needing commit rights.

d) The Windows Champion communicate how they'd like to address the RubySpec-for-Windows-Issues maturity concern raised by Yusuke.

e) The Windows Champion clearly communicates expectations in a timely manner on newly opened Windows issues.  It's important that when one opens an issue on the tracker or posts to ruby-core, that we clearly understand what's planned to be done and what help the Windows Champion needs in order to resolve the issue.  Whether the response is "Will not fix because ..." or "Not enough resources, need additional help" or "Will be fixed in X.Y.Z" we need clear expectations

f) Refine as needed.

Is something like this guaranteed to fix things?  No.  But the discussion should help us identify something that hopefully works better than what we currently have.
 

3) And finally, I suspect there may be a perception that Windows issues for the MRI implementation may not be taken as serious as MRI impl issues for other platforms.  Whether this perception is right or wrong in reality is open for discussion, but we sometimes see responses on the ML's to Ruby Windows issues something unhelpful along the lines of "...you need to switch to Linux..." or something similar.  I think this tone is unfortunate and sells Ruby short as I think many people find Ruby really great on multiple platforms.  I personally enjoy using it on both my Linux and windows boxes.

I think it would go a long way to setting the proper tone and reminding people that Ruby the Language is really about providing a great experience on the multiple platforms it (Ruby) targets if Matz and other core developers could be more vocal in reminding us that "...a great experience on Windows is very important to Ruby's success..."


> In fact, I'm reluctantly tackling mingw but I'm now dizzy :-(

Perhaps we can help reduce your struggling at http://groups.google.com/group/rubyinstaller as we have people of varying skill sets monitoring the list.


Jon