6 Replies to “Wikipedia entry”

  2. Agreed! So of course I have two dumb questions…

    -Is this a little rough on FreeBSD? (“Did not think highly of” vs. “Were not convinced?” … I’m still left with the impression that things went about as civilly as they could given mismatched goals; going straight into the commit bit issue implies some feuding, and I’m still assuming everyone was happy to have mostly avoided that here?) [I had my head up the Deadly.org threads around W^X in the past weeks, and as those demonstrate, subtle disagreement devolves into counterproductive urban legend pretty quickly if left unchecked.]

    -“A serializing token may be held simultaneously by multiple threads” — For a brief moment, I thought I knew what was going on (Kudos to Matt’s Slashdot posts explaining, and I’ll refer back to those lest I live in ignorance), but the language here is ambiguous… Does it refer to a ‘single’/’individual’ token, or the platonic form?

  3. Mezz, I’m glad that you liked it!

    Joe, I ask plenty of “dumb” questions myself, and more often then not, I find myself better for it after the fact. I’ve asked many in the time it’s taken me to write what is currently on that page, and I’m sure that I’ll be asking plenty more.

    First, I think that I should explain my goals with that article. It is my intention to provide accurate information about the history of the project (how it came to be), it’s goals and the techniques employed to achieve these goals, the technologies being developed and the future directions of the project. It has also been a wonderful opportunity to learn about a number of the topics linked to on the page.

    I do not believe that I was being unduly harsh with the FreeBSD folks in the article, but I am not particularly opposed to seeing the text changed so long as the information presented remains accurate, and is not bloated terribly merely to avoid stepping on anybody’s toes. There *was* a disagreement, and Matt *did* lose his ability to work his magic on the FreeBSD code. It happened, and it was largely responsible for DragonFly’s existence. To be clear, I’ve nothing against the FreeBSD folks, and I am making an honest effort to keep a neutral point of view.

    As to your issue with the serializing token section, you’re right, a better explaination is required, and is being worked on. The DragonFly page is very likely going to remain forever a work in progress ;)

  4. Sounds right, and for similar reasons, that’s why I raise it as a “dumb” question rather than just diving in to edit. (Well, coherent with the fact that I’m probably further removed from the issue than anyone else.)

    My understanding of the story is that, quite simply, the inn really was booked up, and we end up with what should be a fable on the benefits of civil forking; “E plures uno omnis,” according to a friend who knows Latin. But every interpretation takes you further from the Zen truth of “what really happened,” so it’s a matter of how it should be spun for the history books.

    Here’s looking forward to the clarification on the tokens; I’ll probably have to wait for the inevitable _Design_and_Implementation_ before I’ll ever keep a handle on it all. (It’s great to have a system forming with a D&I I can finally risk putting some trust in! But I’ll stop there, before I come off like an Amiga fan. ;))

  5. “But every interpretation takes you further from the Zen truth of ‘what really happened,’ so it’s a matter of how it should be spun for the history books.”

    Too true. As far as you being “further removed from the issue than anyone else” in my mind makes you probably one of the better people to get into things like Wikipedia, as it helps you to remain objective.

    As I have an interest in DragonFly, I have to try a little bit harder to keep my personal bias from distorting the information that I present as I’m writing about the project. At least in that regard, I believe I’ve done a reasonable job.

  6. Oh, I’m just further removed from the *facts.* As noted, I pack as much or more ‘religious’ bias than you or the proverbial kids I’m worrying about. You’ve done quite the reasonable job, I just had to raise the awareness because… Y’know, because. ;)

    I actually do participate on some other articles, sometimes.

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