Re: frescobaldi on mac

[David Kastrup]

Derek <address@hidden> writes:

> Blah Blah and when I was a kid I had to walk five miles uphill in the
> snow to school both ways...

Except that I still do things like find problems with GCC code
generation.  And stuff like that tends to take days.  Longer than
digging through a set of half-working recipes and figuring out the
correct course would for someone actually having a Mac.

> Whatever it sounds like to you you are wrong. My point was that with
> my programming skills I wouldn't be of much use to anyone else ie I
> can't make an installer package and contribute as I don't have the
> time or the skill set.

But you expect others to have the time and acquire the skill set.  And
probably also buy themselves the same sort of computer that you want to
use.  Why?

> I finally got it running just reading this forum, nobody came and held
> my hand or did it for me so enough with patronising bollocks, it seems
> to be a pattern around here.

So what steps did you take to make sure that others will have it easier
and benefit from your experience?

> If I didn't like the program so much I would have bailed long ago.

How would we have noticed?

> Do you actually want people to use lilypond or do you want to send
> them on their way because they don't use linux or aren't as
> technically minded as others?

"Using LilyPond" is neutral (apart from incurring hosting/download
costs).  Contributing back to a community involves more than just using
the software.  Complaining about the software is a feedback, but without
the investment of time and care required to make that complaint specific
and addressable, it does not help the community or ultimately the
software.

> People bagging out mac users or spamming the Steinberger blog with
> Lilypond evangelism, the program is fantastic but the attitudes and pr
> around here need some work.

Attitudes and PR will not make a difference regarding how hard it is to
use LilyPond on a Mac.  LilyPond is supported by an active and
incredibly helpful community (which happens to pay my bills as well in
order to keep myself working on the project).  But there are limits to
what it can do.  If no actual users of a platform can be bothered to get
involved in deployment (which requires a lot of cooperation and detailed
feedback), then there will be no support or the existing support will
eventually break down.

And that is not something that can be resolved by complaining about it,
and by complaining in general that it is the responsibility of some
mystical higher class of humans known as "programmers" who are bound to
work on the problems of all others because everyone knows that they
don't have a life of their own.

Even the "programmers" need something substantial to work with.

-- 
David Kastrup