Re: [dev] "Note On Webkit Versions"

From: Christoph Lohmann <20h_AT_r-36.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:58:08 +0200

Greetings.

On Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:58:08 +0200 Jochen Sprickerhof <dwm_AT_jochen.sprickerhof.de> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> just saw this commit:
>
> http://git.suckless.org/sites/commit/?id=6e3450a047c5f7eda300f68814f7b1dfd499119e
>
> Can someone (_AT_Christoph) please specify which version of Webkit and which
> packaging is meant and what are the symptoms of hell?

The pure insane size of the webkit source and compile system makes it
uninteresting for an average user to compile webkit on his/her own. This
stalls any try to patch, extend or strip down webkit.

This basic fact forces users into binary packaging, which – especially
for webkit1 –, is bad and tends to have a dependency on all Open Source
projects out there.

The symptoms of hell (They can be applied to other projects too.):

* Crashing without an easy way to debug it
        * You need to download hundreds of megabyte of source for webkit and
          of course compile it, for debugging it.
        * This leads to no motivation in fixing.
        * The bigger the project, the more »magic thinking« happens.
                * Magic only leads to Arch Linux help forum content.
* Dependency subhell
        * Here's where the catholic church banned all unborn children.
        * Download and debug all the APIs in need is not possible except for
          the person who is working for money on webkit.

Conclusion: If you reach the stage of too many dependencies or code,
which can only be changed by the one who wrote it, remove your project
and leave the software industry for something productive. Your future
hobby enthusiams will keep the project size small, just by practical
means.


Sincerely,

Christoph Lohmann
Received on Fri Apr 29 2016 - 17:58:08 CEST

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