> In terms of improving the hosting infrastructure, this would surely be a
> step forward, but the problem with "collaboration" is not that the
> tools are missing, it's that people are unwilling to use any tools for
> issue tracking, etc.
I quite agree with Peter. Most sub-projects have one or two lead developers,
who organize themselves. In the case of PostgreSQL, the problem is not
developer intelligence, PostgreSQL project already host the best brains.
On a different level:
I feel that new-comers to PostgreSQL have a hard time finding the right tools,
installing and starting PostgreSQL, connecting locally, etc...
We probably never hear from these users, as they never reach the first
connection. In a way, PostgreSQL is targetted at an "elite of hackers".
At pgAdmin, I started a (very) experimental project of mass-download:
http://www.pgadmin.org/pgadmin3/advocacy.php#list
There are no precise statistics, we do not know yet the impact of releasing
pgAdmin III on so many sites. And PostgreSQL Win32 port is not there.
In a few weeks ... with the arrival of PostgreSQL win32 version,
there could be a rush to PostgreSQL, like never before.
A bundle including PHP, PostgreSQL, PhpPgAdmin and pgAdmin III
could reach (at least) 100.000 download every month on:
- PostgreSQL mirrors,
- PHP mirrors,
- Shareware and freeware sites,
- Community sites.
A real flow of people... How are we going to receive them?
My preffered answer would be to use the same techniques that proved to be
successful. No need to find complicated solutions:
PHP.NET web site proved successful,
let us fork PHP.NET web site
But, do we really want to become the Apache of the database world?
(don't flame me if you think I am becoming mad... I don't think I am.)
If you would like to answer, maybe try posting to
pgsql-advocacy@postgresql.org (no cross-posts).
Otherwise, let us sleep well and make dreams of a better world.
Cheers,
Jean-Michel Pouré