Re: [Freeciv-Dev] split?

[Reinier Post <rp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> Go ahead!  No-one complained when people started a client using Java,
> which would certainly have remained a separate client.

I did complain in e-mail.

I'm in no position to argue with David, but it is surely more work to
implement features for multiple clients at once.  It may be easier and
more attractive to start a fresh client instead of trying to sort out
and fix the problems with the existing ones, but in the long run you end
up with 3 clients instead of 2 and someone else will stand up to start
a 4th one because 'it needs to be done right'.

> But you may
> want to keep in mind one of the effective "rules" of open source 
> development: It is much easier to get people to contribute if you 
> have a working "base".  (Eg Mozilla; perhaps this was a problem
> with the Java client?)  Which means _someone_ has to put in enough
> work at the start to make the project viable.

This is a special problem with Freeciv, because it only has a few regular
contributors.

> > That is - the new client would not really aim at being the standard
> > client... Not really... A standard but not the...

If in the end you don't manage to replace at least one existing client,
3 clients will need to be maintained.  It's such a waste of effort ...

-- 
Reinier