Re: Preview: portable dumper

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Richard Stallman <address@hidden>
> CC: address@hidden, address@hidden
> Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2016 16:28:58 -0500
> 
> You have explained a possible drawback of the portable dumper:
> it could make maintenance more difficult some years from now.
> 
> No one can doubt that this is a possibility.  People do disagree about
> how much of a problem it is likely to be.  Many of us don't expect it
> will make a big difference.  You forecast that it could.

Thank you for acknowledging that this is a possibility.  I was under
the impression that my opponents didn't agree.

> But you've got to admit that it is uncertain.  We're all making
> guesstimates about probabilities.

IMO, dangerous outcomes should be taken seriously even if their
probability is low, as long as it's non-zero.  "Taken seriously" means
we should do something to try to avoid the danger.  That is what I'm
trying to do: find a solution for the problem that will avoid the
danger.

> So if we install the portable dumper, please don't treat it as a
> certain disaster.

The "disaster" is not the installation of the dumper.  The disaster I
alluded to would be not to try to find a solution that minimizes the
above danger.  If we have tried our best and failed, then it's not a
disaster, it's life: after all, we can only make the best use of the
cards we've been dealt.