Re: Display problems with `before-string' in overlay

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:14:13 +0200
> From: "Lennart Borgman (gmail)" <address@hidden>
> Cc: address@hidden
> 
> Then what arguments are actually convincing to you?

Did you ever managed release of some software product, Lennart?
Because if you didn't, then there's really no way we could convince
you, since you lack a significant experience of having to decide what
needs to be fixed before the release and what's after it.

> For sure I found it troublesome to change that code now. There is
> however no other way to fix the bug.

We do not intend to forget about the bug.  We just want to fix it
_after_ the release that's all.  I hope you understand that, no matter
how hard we work, there will be always bugs in the released Emacs.
Leaving this one in just means there's one more.

> I know that both Kim and Chong hesitate to do the changes now. My 
> argument is not that I do not trust them. I try to look at the actual 
> changes and estimate the chances that it can go wrong.

This estimation on the one hand, and the estimated seriousness of the
bug on the other, is the fundamental issue.  If you cannot see how the
former is much larger than the latter, then we have no real basis for
a reasonable discussion.

> Then I try to get 
> their feedback on this because I know that they know the code better 
> from both a present and a historical point of view. Chong has given 
> concrete feedback to the list to the fix I sent. Kim has not done so yet 
> and I do not know if he will give feedback on that level.

That's because everyone else but you look at this issue at a
fundamentally different level.  You look at the details, but no amount
of details will ever lead you to the bigger picture--that we need to
release soon, and that Emacs is ready for that.

> You are of course free to take any standpoint you want, but I think it 
> would be nice and useful if you tried to keep it on the level I suggest 
> above.

You cannot force your opponents in the argument to reply only to your
arguments and not take the discussion to a higher level.

The main issue here is of a managerial character, it's not about the
specifics of the proposed solutions to the bug.  I hope you do
understand that there are principles, not only facts and details, do
you?