[Openmcl-devel] M1 port: Call for funding

[Jon Boone]

On Sunday, December 31, 2023, Ron Garret <ron at flownet.com> wrote:

>
> > On Dec 31, 2023, at 12:05 PM, Jon Boone <ipmonger at delamancha.org> wrote:
> >
> > 1.  Does the effort have a (defacto?) project manager to keep track of
> the moving pieces?
>
> Not yet.  At the moment there are no pieces to keep track of because we
> don't have anyone who has both the knowledge and available bandwidth to
> complete the project (but there are private discussions underway which
> might change that.  Stay tuned.)


  I'm thinking of a project manager who may not have the necessary
knowledge but has the bandwidth to manage the overall process, which would
include:
  a. liaising with those who do have the knowledge to leverage their
insights, if not outright participation;
  b. ensuring appropriate segmentation of effort so that (to whatever
extent possible) bottlenecks and single points of failure can be avoided
  c. following up with contributors to ensure timely delivery of
milestones, as well as unblocking contributors to the greatest extent
possible
  d. preparing regular reports on the progress of the project
  e. etc., etc., etc.


> > 2.  Is there a way to articulate the sense of urgency in getting this
> accomplished and the related constraints?
>
> Not quite sure what you mean by this.  If you want to signal your own
> sense of urgency to the community, the best way to do that right now is
> commit to writing a big check -- unless you already know how to port CCL,
> in which case committing to doing some or all of the work would also help.
> ("Big" here means five figures.)


  I have no personal sense of urgency, but I'm wondering if others do.  For
example, are people concerned about losing access to those with the
necessary knowledge to get this (and presumably, to at least some extent,
future ports to other architectures like RISCV) done?


> > 3.  Who's interested in ensuring that there is a contingency plan and
> pipeline process for bringing in, on-boarding and mentoring new
> contributors?
>
> That would be me.
>

  I've seen other implementations thrive (like SBCL) while others languish
(like CMUCL) and it seems to me that a significant part of the difference
is the sense of community among the users and developers.  I'm not sure
there is any significant shared vision behind SBCL, but I know there isn't
for CMUCL.  I'm curious if the openmcl users have a sense of mission or
not, as well as how strong the sense of community is.

--jb



-- 
—jon
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