3 ms·
Let's rewrite this: "The point is that public VCS doesn't benefit Wietse, and by extension Postfix, so why should he have one? A public VCS only benefits other
by ef4 12y ago
Let's rewrite this:
"The point is that public VCS doesn't benefit Wietse, and by extension Postfix, so why should he have one? A public VCS only benefits other people, most of whom aren't even contributing to Postfix development."
Like this:
"The point is that publishing source tarballs doesn't benefit Wietse, and by extension Postfix, so why should he? Publishing the source only benefits other people, most of whom aren't even contributing to Postfix development."
The answer to both question is "he doesn't have to, but if he takes seriously the goals of open source it would be silly not to." It's not unlike choosing to withhold your Makefiles, or documentation.
- agwa 12y agoWietse obviously wants to benefit people who use Postfix, which is why he releases tarballs, Makefiles, and documentation, so people who want to use Postfix can get it, compile it, and learn how to use it. VCS does not further those goals, but instead benefits would-be developers (and an insignificant minority of users who aren't worth optimizing for).
- pconf 12y agoA writeable open VCS would also make heartbleed-like vulnerabilities more likely. As such the OP's comments should be evaluated as potential astroturf. Were the NSA looking to introduce new and effective backdoors, and we know they are, this would be one way to pressure IBM/Weitse for access.