kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dick Hollenbeck <dick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 07/01/2014 10:44 AM, Tomasz Wlostowski wrote:
> On 01.07.2014 17:16, Dick Hollenbeck wrote:
>> On 06/30/2014 02:34 PM, Javier Serrano wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 7:48 PM, Lorenzo Marcantonio <l.marcantonio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> wrote:
>>>> I see the commits. Could have be useful to know before since both me and the cern
>>>> people were already working on that.
>>>
>>> I confirm we had a phone conversation with Lorenzo about this work and were planning
>>> to write a blueprint for him to start (actually continue) working on this. My
>>> understanding was that this was with us (CERN + Lorenzo), but there was maybe a
>>> separate discussion that I missed. Dick, what are the status and (if applicable) plans
>>> for this work package now?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Javier
>>
>>
>> JP, Wayne and I developed the following working blueprint and attached spreadsheet.
>> Spreadsheet from JP.
> 
> Dick,
> 
> What was your reason for keeping this blueprint secret and not involving 
> CERN (as well as other important developers) in the discussion?
> 
> I sincerely hope it was just an accident.
> 
> It feels really awful, being treated like a second-string developer.
> 
> Tom
> 


Tom,

You are not a second-string developer.  I appreciate what you do.   I thank you and Orson
for mopping up any difficulties that the layer flipping caused, and I recognize that did
affect you.  This was a rare event, one that we were not likely to get together on, and
one that in its magnitude is also rare.

As I told Javier in private, I did ask Wayne and JP if anyone from CERN was working on
this and was told no.  So there was a communications failure on more than one level.  It
is precisely the respect I have for *YOU* that I asked.

Some of the credit for this patch must be given to you and Orson for mopping up the splash
that it no doubt caused in P&S and GAL.

This is code outside my area of study to date.  So your efforts are appreciated by me.  I
cannot speak for any one else, but please understand that I do know your pain.

You are a key contributor, I do not personally consider you a second class contributor.
That is precisely why I asked Wayne and JP if anything was underway on your part before I
began.  JP can produce the email exchange if anyone doubts this.  I did not ask for
approval for my design from anyone but Wayne and JP, the other lead developers.  These are
guys that I don't tend to argue with.  We respect each other, and in respecting one
another, we become respected.

On the other hand, I never did appreciate any of Lorenzo's layer work.  The LAYER_ID was
an incomplete solution from the day he brought it up.  I voiced an objection at the time,
yet gave him latitude to make the commit or not.  He chose to make that commit without my
endorsement.  It cost him.  My only advice to Lorenzo is that a faster way gain respect is
to give it.  Playing smartest guy in the room, even when you are, is not a way to gain
respect.  It just makes you disliked.

Open source development is not filled a lot of reward Tom.

An occasional thank you is about all you can expect it seems.  I thank you, your
involvement in KiCad has brought it to a new level, and I am jealous of you in many ways.
 You get paid for much of your contributions.   People are excited about CERN's
involvement in KiCad and I am sure that is because they know smart people work there.


Tom, my reward is insufficient also.


People contribute to a fund fully controlled by CERN, thinking they are contributing to
the project, when the project leader has nothing to say about how the money is to be spent.

I pray that the next project leader has a love for KiCad greater than I do, for the sake
of the project.