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Please don't blame open source volunteers for not having the right skillset or for not having enough time to address every concern or merge every patch that com

Please don't blame open source volunteers for not having the right skillset or for not having enough time to address every concern or merge every patch that comes their way. Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses. I'm sure the GIMP developers would love to make a program that is really good at everything, but reality has a way of making that difficult. If you've got some spare time and can help with reviewing and merging and maintaining patches, maybe you can talk to them and work something out? Remember that any patch that gets merged has to be maintained for several years, so maybe you can see their reluctance there.

rleigh 5y ago
I'm well aware of the constraints of open source development and project management, having been involved in it for nearly 25 years at this point. In the case of this project, I was involved with it for several years as a maintainer of the Print plugin, if you care to read some of my other posts about the history. You're wrong about the GIMP developers wanting a program that is "really good at everything". If that was the case, then they wouldn't have deliberately rejected so many proposals for improving workflows and adding features over the years. Film-GIMP is the most high-profile example, but there are dozens more. This is nothing to do with not having enough time. It's a deliberate design choice, which is theirs to make. They chose not to foster a community of contributors around the project. And they chose not to implement many of the most basic features their user base asked for. Again, their choice. As for "talking to them and working something out", that hasn't happened in the entire history of the project. What is missing here isn't a lack of time or a lack of technical skill. It's a lack of effective project management, a lack of direction, and an inability to delegate.
- BrightGlow 5y ago
  I think your characterization isn't exactly correct, they've declined to implement some features, but they've also implemented a lot of other ones. >What is missing here isn't a lack of time or a lack of technical skill. It's a lack of effective project management, a lack of direction, and an inability to delegate. Please don't do this, this is splitting hairs. Some people don't have the project management skills to do that. I've read your other posts, if you have the project management skills, then you'd be a great candidate to step in and do that. If you don't, then this still isn't helping the problem. The productive thing to do would be to find a capable project manager.

rleigh 5y ago

I'm well aware of the constraints of open source development and project management, having been involved in it for nearly 25 years at this point. In the case of this project, I was involved with it for several years as a maintainer of the Print plugin, if you care to read some of my other posts about the history. You're wrong about the GIMP developers wanting a program that is "really good at everything". If that was the case, then they wouldn't have deliberately rejected so many proposals for improving workflows and adding features over the years. Film-GIMP is the most high-profile example, but there are dozens more. This is nothing to do with not having enough time. It's a deliberate design choice, which is theirs to make. They chose not to foster a community of contributors around the project. And they chose not to implement many of the most basic features their user base asked for. Again, their choice. As for "talking to them and working something out", that hasn't happened in the entire history of the project. What is missing here isn't a lack of time or a lack of technical skill. It's a lack of effective project management, a lack of direction, and an inability to delegate.

BrightGlow 5y ago
I think your characterization isn't exactly correct, they've declined to implement some features, but they've also implemented a lot of other ones. >What is missing here isn't a lack of time or a lack of technical skill. It's a lack of effective project management, a lack of direction, and an inability to delegate. Please don't do this, this is splitting hairs. Some people don't have the project management skills to do that. I've read your other posts, if you have the project management skills, then you'd be a great candidate to step in and do that. If you don't, then this still isn't helping the problem. The productive thing to do would be to find a capable project manager.