[Oberon] all in one git tree

[Chris Burrows]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Oberon [mailto:oberon-bounces at lists.inf.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of
> Skulski, Wojciech
> Sent: Sunday, 27 December 2020 1:40 AM
> To: ETH Oberon and related systems
> Subject: Re: [Oberon] [EXT] Re: all in one git tree
> 
> Long live Oberon the way it is now. It will continue!
> 

Well said - I agree! 

The Oberon operating system is not *nix, the Oberon language is not C.
Project Oberon 2013 consists of about fifty files and a few thousand lines
of source code, not tens of thousands of files and millions of lines of
source code. It was deliberately designed so that entire system could be
understood by an individual. One of the consequences of this is that it can,
and is, be further developed and maintained by individuals, not teams. It is
not a colossus that requires an army to stop it from collapsing. 

If you have a horrendously complex system then you need complex tools to
help you manage it. I would no more use Git to manage my PO2013 development
than I would use a SQL server database to store my todo list.

GitHub is a convenient way for Oberon developers to publish their work. It
is much easier than creating and maintaining a website for the purpose.
However, while it is significantly less work, it would be astute to keep in
mind who controls these systems. E.g. GitHub is now owned by Microsoft. They
discontinued CodePlex their earlier open source repository. Presumably this
action caused some inconvenience. 

GitHub / Git would only possibly need to be used as a revision control
system for collaborative development if a situation arose where more than
one person working on Oberon shared a common goal. As far as I can see this
has not yet happened. Everybody exploiting the foundation that is Project
Oberon 2013 generally has mutually exclusive interests, aims and
requirements. There's nothing wrong with that - the system is more of a
launchpad for ideas rather than an end in itself. Some want to use it to
revisit the moon, others are more ambitious and would like to reach Mars,
others are content to fill in the potholes and cracks that appear from time
to time. 

I can understand why the guy who designed and *completed* the infrastructure
of the launchpad (to its specifications) has no enthusiasm for now becoming
an astronaut. No amount of cajoling is likely to persuade him otherwise ;-)

Regards,
Chris Burrows
CFB Software
https::/www.astrobe.com/RISC5