Chung Leong wrote:
[color=blue]
> Andrew DeFaria wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Define "support" in the context of Open Source.[/color]
>
> Software that isn't a joke? The following sounds like a joke to me:
>
> "this module is experimental, its functions may change their names or
> move to extension all together
> so do not rely to much on them you have been warned!"[/color]
You failed to define the term support in the context of Open Source. Try
harder next time.
While the above may sound like a joke to you it doesn't to me. Indeed
the above statement doesn't even name the module. For all I know it
could be a portion of something bigger.
[color=blue][color=green]
>> Regardless, as has been posted already, many people do use Apache 2
>> and PHP in production environments.[/color]
>
> Okay, so people are supposed to make a important business decision
> based on some messages they read on a newsgroup?[/color]
Yes! It's done all the time. In fact I do it all the time!
Some businesses in the orient use Feng Shui for their business
decisions. Is that really any better?
[color=blue]
> Jesus. The big issue is not whether it actually works but who's
> responsible when it doesn't.[/color]
Ah no, not at all. If the software works then nobody needs to worry
about being responsible when it doesn't because it does. This is simple
logic. Are you sure you're a real programmer?
[color=blue]
> If I'm pushing a setup that's described as experimental and something
> goes wrong, who's responsible? Me.[/color]
Then test it. Or spending thousands or millions of dollars on inferior
off the shelf software that - guess what? - has bugs too. Some of this
off the shelf software with their support contracts and all are based
off of Open Source stuff anyway (e.g. IBM/Rational's web server
software, called RWP, is basically Apache).
I find that some people focus on and worry about your statement so much
that it essentially stifles them totally into no action at all. I used
to be like that. Then I saw the light - the real issue is whether or not
it works not whether or not you can blame.. ahem... call somebody else
for support. Ever call somebody else for support and you end up
informing them about how their software works?!? You may not have but I
sure have! So again, what is support mean in the context of Open Source?
And what does support really mean in the context of non Open Source?
After years of experience I've learned that the later is not really
significantly better than the former. YMMV.
[color=blue]
> Seriously, how long does this "experiment" have to last?[/color]
Maybe it's no longer an experiment rather they just haven't changed the
tag. How long will this American experiment last? Been going for over
200 years. Been going long enough for most people in the world to invest
it in...
[color=blue]
> Is it that hard for them to run some tests to see if the thing works
> or not?[/color]
Have you actually used Open Source at all? Have you actually tried to
build it yourself? Often (i.e. every time I've done it) it has tests
built in. For example, CPAN modules will configure their Makefiles,
compile and run tests before installing. Question: How many tests do you
need and how many of them need to pass? One person may have 100 tests
and 80 of them pass and he labels this as experimental just because 20
of them fail. But if you do not use any of the functionality in those 20
tests do you really care?
[color=blue][color=green]
>> But it already works in a production environment! Have you tried it?[/color]
>
> Of course. And I have egg on my face to show for. I have to say, I
> rather dislike having to apologize to an important client for someone
> else's bugs.[/color]
Get used to it! No software is bug free! The trick is to get the
software with bugs in functionality that you don't care about.
(BTW if software were bug free then getting support would be irrelevant!)
[color=blue][color=green]
>> I've been using Apache 2 with PHP outputting megabytes of files with
>> no problems.[/color]
>
> If you don't believe me, take a look at the CVS:
>
>
http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-s...og#rev1.1.2.32
>
> Yes, I actually had to rummage through the source to see when the leak
> was plugged because the fix wasn't mentioned in the changelog. I had
> been warned I suppose.[/color]
Hmmm... Funny:
Revision *1.1.2.32* - (view
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?hideattic=0&view=markup&rev=1.1.2.3 2>)
(download
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?rev=1.1.2.32>)
(as text
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?content-type=text%2Fplain&rev=1.1.2.32&pathrev=1.1.2.32>)
(annotate
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?annotate=1.1.2.32&hideattic=0>)
- [select for diffs]
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?hideattic=0&r1=1.1.2.32&view=log>
/Fri Jun 25 12:51:38 2004 UTC/ (18 months, 1 week ago) by /edink/
Branch: *PHP_4_3*
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?view=log&hideattic=0&pathrev=PHP_4_ 3>
Changes since *1.1.2.31: +3 -25 lines*
Diff to previous 1.1.2.31
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?hideattic=0&r1=1.1.2.31&r2=1.1.2.32 >
, to branch point 1.1
<http://cvs.php.net/viewcvs.cgi/php-src/sapi/apache2handler/sapi_apache2.c?hideattic=0&r1=1.1&r2=1.1.2.32>
_Memory leak fix_ (patch by Joe Orton)
Seems pretty clear to me that it was fixed *18 month and 1 week ago!!!*
--
I(nternal) R(evenue) S(ervice): We've got what it takes to take what
you've got.