[compiz] BlurFX for compiz

[Mike Dransfield]

We can request David to include any function/feature that we require
> in the core, so the core remains clean and same on both trees.
>
> The community is very open, you can drop in at #beryl-dev any time and
> some or the other developer is alway around, including Quinnstorm.
>
> It is quite informal community, that just wants to make it easier for
> everyone to contribute.
>
> What does other compiz developers think about this idea?
>
Speaking as a developer, not a compiz developer... I think that using 
IRC for technical discussions is totally wrong.  Writing software 
requires a lot of formality, discussion about changing the core should 
be done in a public and recorded way so that people in the future can 
see why and how changes were made.

I think that the informal attitude has got us in the state we are today, 
patches applied all over the place without formal documentation.  If I 
am correct, the original xinerama changes were made with the 
understanding that they would be removed once David had finished the 
correct changes.  Now the argument is that it is too hard to undo those 
changes.  There are actually some good features that were put into 
compiz-quinnstorm which were not offered upstream because 'David would 
not accept them anyway'.

Making it easy for people to contribute is great, but what is wrong with 
discussing things on this list before changing core items?

I think that the quinnstorm branch was a great idea and the forums help 
with support and training developers.  Things went too far and now it 
seems like the beryl developers are actively looking to break 
compatibility so they can differentiate themselves from compiz and be 
included in the distros.

If I am not mistaken, the compiz-quinn cvs is now offline and any 
history is lost.  I want to avoid all this political nonsense which is 
only hampering development which is why I will probably host my own 
repository.  I will try to get ifdef patches put into the beryl plugins 
so that they can work without modification.  A nicer solution would be 
to patch the parts of beryl core that cause the biggest headaches for 
compatability (BERYL_ABI_INFO I am looking at you).

Maybe a beryl developer can comment on my 4 points, I would really like 
to know more.