all userspace and no kernel makes Muli a dull boy
There’s this project at work, let’s call it Whale, that I’m
working on at the moment. That project is Strategic, and
Important. The tasks that I’m working on require significant
Linux expertise. However, they are all userspace tasks,
with nary a kernel code line in sight. For an aspiring kernel
hacker such as yours truly, that is, to put it mildly, “not
optimal”. On-going efforts to move to another project where it’s
all kernel and no luserspace, are meeting stiff resistance. This
is despite past promises to the contrary, and it makes me very
unhappy. Watch this space for updates.
show me the code
There’s this Telux
talk on Sunday. The talk is titled “The Open Source Development
Model”. It’s going to be given by Ori Idan
and Shoshannah Forbes. I find
it curious that neither of the speakers appear to have done any
significant open source development – especially considering the
work done by some of the other Telux members.
Now, don’t get me wrong, documentation is important, and so is
evangelism and helping new users, and any other non-development
task. But none of them compare, IMNSHO, to actually putting in
the effort and writing code. The code is the foundation that
everything else is built on. Without the code, neither
documentation nor evangelism would make any difference.
edit: Shoshannah wrote to let me know that the talk is titled “OpenSource for Non-Developers”, which certainly puts everything in a different perspective. I stand by my original comments in general, but they obviously do not apply in thic case.
Muli Ben-Yehuda's journal 
and my current project is perl+mysql
you should really be happy dude
Comment by kalyan — February 20, 2004 @ 12:01 AM |
I am moderately happy, but a good rant every once in a while never hurt anyone 😉
Comment by mulix — February 20, 2004 @ 6:32 AM |
hehe. muli wouldn’t want to know what project I am doing, though I think he already knows. But then again, endure dude, for the pain will be over soon (i hope 🙂
Comment by ideawerkz — February 20, 2004 @ 1:23 AM |
Let’s see … a project, let’s call it, FIC?
Comment by mulix — February 20, 2004 @ 6:33 AM |
It’s a pity I won’t be able to attend it.. I’d love to see one of the speakers there.
Comment by luckluster — February 20, 2004 @ 2:52 AM |
which one>? and why won’t you be able to attend?
Comment by mulix — February 20, 2004 @ 6:33 AM |
I want to see Xslf on reality, and.. I won’t be able to attend because I’m in Be’er 7, and I’ve got moed B in Algebra1 on Tuesday so I can’t arrive to 03 just for this lecture.
Comment by luckluster — February 20, 2004 @ 3:49 PM
good luck…
Comment by mulix — February 20, 2004 @ 11:58 PM
BGU’s math’s tough.
Good luck.
Comment by omerm — February 21, 2004 @ 9:22 AM
Re: BGU’s math’s tough.
Holey shit! It’s CMV’s fiance! 🙂
No doubt BGU’s math tough, and so is Huji’s, Tau’s and Technion’s. Is there a place where it isn’t tough? (besides of Biu which I’m banning)
Comment by luckluster — February 21, 2004 @ 2:24 PM
The Telux talk
Hi from Shoshannah (not Shoshana).
I am not sure where did you get the information about our talk, but the title is “OpenSource for Non-Developers”.
As more and more OpenSource users are not developers, the idea is to show them how they can contribute as well- in QA, graphic/UI design, documentation etc.
As for my own track record, I have a long one as doing QA work in OpenSource projects- esp. Mozilla and OpenOffice.
Just to get the facts straight, and clear up any misunderstanding 🙂
Hope to see you there Sunday,
Shoshannah
—
http://www.xslf.com
Comment by Anonymous — February 20, 2004 @ 7:27 PM |
Re: The Telux talk
> Hi from Shoshannah (not Shoshana).
Sorry, I’ll fix that.
> I am not sure where did you get the information about our talk, but the
> title is “OpenSource for Non-Developers”.
That certainly puts it in a completely different light. I got the title from the Telux page and the whatsup announcement, IIRC.
> As more and more OpenSource users are not developers, the idea is to
> show them how they can contribute as well- in QA, graphic/UI design,
> documentation etc.
Commendable.
> As for my own track record, I have a long one as doing QA work in
> OpenSource projects- esp. Mozilla and OpenOffice.
Commendable as well.
> Just to get the facts straight, and clear up any misunderstanding 🙂
Thank you for your comments. That certainly clears things up.
> Hope to see you there Sunday,
> Shoshannah
I won’t be able to make it, I’m afraid. Have a good talk!
Comment by mulix — February 20, 2004 @ 11:53 PM |
Tell me about that…
When a project is deemed to be Strategic, and Important, sometimes risks and decisions are taken.
Years in MI[0] had taught me that the very difficult quality to achieve is to know what you want and how much you are willing to pay for it. Sometimes, it does help to jump out from your familiar fishbowl[2] and to have an impression on what is going on around you (or, more importantly, what is not going on there). Having said that, I insist that as you know what you are heading for, you should not give up.
Just do not give up.
One learns by comparison. Let this project reveal to you what you really like in kernel.
Use this project as an opportunity to mix and match paradygms.
However, being aware of your strengths and weaknesses is the paramount of successfull professional development.
My own career[3] had not a few rough edges. Systems administrator, lecturer, Linux hiregun, kernel developer, network guru, real-time engineer.. …Java developer, application developer… Still yet some things managed to upset me more than other. And the understanding of what makes me a dull boy – these are what I consider to be priceless.
Having said that, enjoy your learning, but do not give up. Remember – there’s no place like /home
[0] MI stands for Mission Impossible[1], of course
[1] Impossible due to Malevolent Imbeciles[0]
[2] Just do not let the fishbowl out of sight…
[3] …or lack of thereof
Comment by omerm — February 21, 2004 @ 9:18 AM |
Re: Tell me about that…
Thanks… I think 🙂
There’s no chance of me giving up. I’m willing to compromise and divide my time between both, but am not willing to be working on something that holds no challenge, no interest. There are other options out there…
Comment by mulix — February 21, 2004 @ 11:23 AM |