Re: [msysGit] Re: Python extension commands in git - request for policy change

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Hi,

thank you Duy for thinking of Cc:ing the msysGit mailing list. We indeed
do not have a working Python in Git for Windows yet (mainly because I did
not review kusma's patch yet thanks to a non-fun-at-all side track).

On Sun, 25 Nov 2012, Eric S. Raymond wrote:

> Nguyen Thai Ngoc Duy <pclouds@xxxxxxxxx>:
> > These may apply to other languages as well. Where do we draw a line?
> 
> I'm in favor of the general policy of avoiding scripting languages
> other than the top three most widely deployed.

It is one thing to allow users to use the scripting languages of their
choice to do their work.

It is a different thing completely to allow the core of an important piece
of software like Git to consist of a hodge podge of languages. There are
so many problems already, both technical and social ones [*1*], that I would
really like to caution against letting even more languages creep into the
core. It is bad enough already.

Ciao,
Dscho

Footnote [*1*]: Technical problems include serious performance issues on
Windows when using shell/Perl scripting (see the many, many complaints
about git-svn just as an example), portability problems (I am thankful
that Junio seems to insist at least on POSIX compatibility of shell
scripts still even if there are very vocal forces trying to get lazy on
that front).

And do not underestimate the social problems with *requiring* contributors
to know yet another language well just because you let a core part be
written in that language. There is even a rule of thumb: increase the
number of languages used in your program == halve the number of potential
contributors. And if you think that this is theoretical: look at the mails
we got about Git GUI being written in Tcl/Tk (hardly a difficult language
to learn) and losing contributors over it.
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