Re: new releases [was Re: Official public code repository]

[Roberto Ierusalimschy <roberto@...>]

(I am copying to the list again because I think this is an important
discussion, and because I hope it can end properly.)

> Yet as soon as someone asks if this further support is planned,
> the community rises up and condemns the question as heresy.  All I
> asked for was concrete statements about where Lua was headed and
> who was in place to ensure this, and a source code repository that
> was up-to-date, instead of patching the most recent release (until
> the next currently planned release occured).  I asked you to offer
> evidence of being able to meet common business standards, because my
> experience has been that I have to justify the choices I recommend
> through common business standards.

Just see your last sentence: *I* have to meet common business standards
because *you* have to justify your choices. But I am not doing business
with you (unless you are paying me and I didn't notice). It is *your*
job, not mine, to justify your choices to your clients.


> I believe it reasonable to ask that you show evidence of Lua's future
> and _you_ should have been the one responding affirmatively and
> definatively, not your acolytes.  It should have been a non-issue.
> Unless, of course, there isn't a future for Lua development and you
> simply don't want to admit it.

I think you can easily find *evidence* (not proof ;) of Lua's future.
The Lua team is in place to ensure Lua's future. (I don't think the
three of us will suddenly die or lost interest toghether.)  The current
plans are to wait for a while before starting discussions for Lua 5.2,
so the culture can settle down. (E.g., nobody is going to write another
book for Lua if a new version is imminent.) We are going to publish a
new book about Lua in the next months (Lua gems) and we are organizing a
workshop in Washington for 2008.  I am working on a new pattern-matching
library (Lpeg) that promises to be a great differencial for Lua in the
future. There is a lot of research going on about macros (e.g., token
filters), which may also be a big hit in a future version.  The list of
bugs (and corresponding patches) is up to date (although very small,
but this seems to be because Lua has few bugs :), and a new bug-fix
release is due in a few weeks. (Lua has always worked that way: very few
bugs, with sparse bug-fix releases unless there is a critical bug.) My
"acolytes" (which I prefer to call the Lua community) provided lots of
extra evidence (which, in my opinion, should be much more trustworthy
than whatever I say to promote Lua).

All this information is public and either directly available on the site
or (with a little digging) in the list. As I said, I think it is your
job (not mine) to search for the evidence you need and then put it in
the proper format for your needs.

If you need any other *specific* information about the subject, plasse
feel free to ask. But do not ask me to do your job. I hope you can
understand that and can continue to use Lua.

-- Roberto