If Gentoo can die off, ReiserFS is doomed (was Re: Reiser FS or ext3?)

[Leo Mauler]

--- On Fri, 9/26/08, Jeffrey Watts <jeffrey.w.watts at gmail.com> wrote:

> ReiserFS is open source - just because the guy 
> is in prison doesn't mean the filesystem is 
> "incredibly dead".  I certainly agree that losing 
> its chief advocate (and original author) poses a 
> serious problem for the development effort, but 
> many other open source projects have had similar 
> losses of leadership in the past and have yet 
> survived.

The mere existence of open source code is like DNA in a jar in a freezer: a blueprint for someone to take and run with, but not actual evidence of life, and until someone gets out the metaphorical "turkey baster" and finds a not-so-metaphorical willing developer, the project will remain DNA in a jar.

Case in point: *Gentoo Linux*, which is dying a fairly swift death thanks to the departure of Gentoo Linux's project leader.

Gentoo's decline: A case of missing leadership
September 22, 2008 7:07 AM PDT

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10047439-16.html?tag=mncol;title

TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/49b3th

"The most interesting thing about the current state of gentoo is that it's a very clear (and well documented) example of how the success of a large open source project, regardless of the personal devotion of its user base, is tightly coupled to the strength of its leadership. Interesting also that despite the projects strong attraction of 'power users', the community has been unable to convert these users into active developers."

I think this pretty much underlines my point that, absent proper leadership, an open source project is a bunch of bits on a hard drive.

Blog Entry from the creator of Gentoo, who saw Gentoo's demise coming last year:
http://blog.funtoo.org/2007/07/so-can-i-have-gentoo-back.html

"It appears that the Gentoo Foundation may be disappearing in a matter of time. Apparently, no one has time to actually do the work required to run the Foundation."

Hans Reiser had to pay a half dozen people to do work on his ReiserFS.  With Reiser in prison no one is getting paid for their work, so there's no real incentive to improve on it.