[imp] Help with attachments

[Eric Rostetter]

Quoting "Roger B.A. Klorese" <rogerk at queernet.org>:

> First, on every other open source product I'm using, "put up with pain"
> means "have the developers step through specific diagnostic steps in
> fine detail so I can perform them and help them debug."  It does NOT
> mean "expect to be relied on as an independent debugger."

That really depends on the problem you are having.  Problems that only
you can reproduce, such as yours, pretty much fall into the
"expect to be relied on as an independent debugger" since no one else
can reproduce the problem.

> Second, when I asked about it at the time, I was told that it was indeed
> "almost fully functional."

It is.  Lots of us use it on a daily basis.  But it isn't production quality.
"Fully functional" isn't the same as "production quality".

> Given that it was a shadow CVS, not a live
> one

Huh?

> I expected that at least smoke-test level testing would be
> performed beforer exposing it to the public.

It is the developement code.  It is also exposed to the public.  This
is opensource, so all code is exposed to the public.  There is no testing
before exposing it, it is all always exposed to everyone.

> In the second case, I'm sure that if the zero-length attachment problem
> existed for everyone, this would have been addressed long ago.  So I
> have to assume some corner case of incompatibility exists.

Yes, or some problem with your setup/install.

> Which takes
> us back to the first case... where I'd expect debugging instructions of
> the form "add the following after line xyz of file abc" instead of "dump
> it to output."

Well, if your original message I was replying to said "I don't know php"
and "I'm not a programmer" than I probably would have waited to answer
until I could provide you with detailed instructions.  But since you were
running HEAD and didn't state otherwise, I assumed that you did know how
to program and hopefully did know php or could find out enough about it
to debug the problem.  And since you seemed to want an immediate answer,
I didn't think you wanted me to wait a day or so to research the answer
for you.

> If you can "add lines" then you are a PHP coder.  Maybe not much of one,
> but a PHP coder.  I am not.

Then you need to include this info in your messages.  We don't kow you,
your capabilities, or your setup unless you tell us them in the email.
And as I've already said, personally I'm too busy (right now) to search
the archives for all your previous messages to try to piece this info
together...

It is an unfortunate fact of most opensource projects that most of the
developers (who are unpaid, unfunded, etc) have other lifes (jobs, family,
etc) and can't always spend hours helping your out.  So one time you may
get the best help you ever wanted, and the next time very little help,
depending on what is happening in the developer's life at that time.
Right now may just be a bad time to get help for this type of problem
(one only you report and no one can reproduce).  That's a real bummer
for you, but a fact of opensource life...

I can guarantee you that if any of the developers could reproduce your
problem it would be fixed asap.

--
Eric Rostetter
The Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin

Why get even? Get odd!