Re: [DotGNU]Call for a truce over mono vs pnet

[Barry Fitzgerald]

On Sat, 16 Mar 2002, Rhys Weatherley wrote:

> Paolo Molaro wrote:
>
> > > Make a realistic and respectful offer on co-operation,
> > > and we can begin to move forward from the current
> > > stalemate.
> >
> > I already made an offer yesterday, let's make it again:
> > we (mono developers) will help you bootstrap your corlib so DotGNU
> > doesn't have to rely anymore on microsoft software. You'll likely
> > increase a lot your developer base, because they'll be able to compile
> > your core C# library on free systems.
>
> If you want to do that, I won't stand in your way.  It
> shouldn't be hard to hack the configure.in to recognise
> mcs and slot it into the pnetlib build.
>
> However, pnet's C# compiler should be pnetlib-capable
> in a few more weeks, so we aren't that far away from
> compiling on free systems anyway.
>
> It's basically the mono bootstrap problem in reverse:
> why do we need mcs after we bootstrap pnetlib with
> pnet's cscc?
>
> I don't see how being able to compile each other's stack
> is really working together to break the stalemate.  That's
> just debugging.  The duplication of effort is the problem:
> that is what we must change.
>
> The question is this: what is Mono willing to give up to
> co-operate with DotGNU?  i.e. what major component
> will you stop building, and use pnet's instead?  If the
> answer is "nothing", then we aren't making progress
> to resolve this.
>

Hello everyone,

        Miguel, I'm copying you on this because of our discussions a short
while back on Mono and DotGNU pnet collaborating on the mono lib.  Might I
suggest, for this situation, that we have a little "library D'etente"?

        Both mono and pnet are close to building their own code.  Mono is
close to bootstrapping itself and pnet is close to being able to bootstrap
pnetlib.  I'd personally sugget that, in order to end this argument, we
should begin focusing on collaborating on the upper level library.  Might
I suggest, if this is agreeable to everyone, that pnetlib and the upper
level mono lib be split off into a combined separate project?

        Sound strange?  I'm sure it does, but part of the problem is a
psychological nationalism -- my side vs. your side.  One way to negate
this is to begin collaborating on a shared organization -- new, neutral
ground.  Is this agreeable to everyone involved?  If we don't do something
like this, we may continue to see these arguments, which are good for
nobody involved.

        -Barry