Re: Patch Licensing Terms

[Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@...>]

2017-11-27 23:04 GMT+02:00 Paige DePol <lual@serfnet.org>:
> Roberto Ierusalimschy <roberto@inf.puc-rio.br> wrote:
>
>> Jay Carlson <nop@nop.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I haven't been paying attention; has any third-party code been
>>> incorporated in PUC-Rio Lua?
>>
>> No.
>>
>> -- Roberto
>
> I find that a bit amusing given the definition of a "power patch" from the
> Lua Users Wiki:
>
> "A power patch is a small patch to a source code distribution that makes
> some useful change. Power patches are judged based on how few lines of code
> are changed, general usefulness, and backwards compatibility. By limiting
> them to localized changes, the chance that several such patches can work
> together is high. It also keeps maintenance work to a minimum as new
> versions of the source package are released. **Truly good patches will have
> a short life, as the authors of the original program will incorporate them
> into their code**."
>
> I get that this definition is about power patches in general, however, if
> Lua really does not accept *any patches ever* from the community then
> perhaps the Wiki should be updated to reflect this policy?
>
> Is the non-acceptance of third-party code for licensing issues, ideological
> reasons, or both or neither reason?

I'll speak for myself.

Nobody writes better code than I do, when judged the way I judge it. :-)

I'll occasionally require some rock, but I don't cut-and-paste code.
(That was forced out of me in my Python days, when invisible errors
due to significant whitespace ruined a good program, and it's the
one Python habit I have not shaken off.) Patches amount to cutting
and pasting.

I rewrite it so that it looks the way I would have written it. Sometimes
trivially, e.g. I put 'if type(x)~="number" then return end' on one line,
not on three; sometimes less so.

I even rewrite code that comes off Don Knuth's page, and nobody writes
better code than Knuth does, when judged the way Knuth judges it.

I rather suspect that at least one member of the Lua team feels this
way too. Actually, Paige, I rather suspect that so do you.