> The funny thing is that the HAL dependency bug is among the
> oldest open bug reports on the tracker, dating back almost to the fork
> of KDE3.5.  It is also one of the first things other desktops environments
> throw at us to claim that TDE is obsolete.  This is high priority for
> me to fix, it has been over 3 years and in all that time no one has had the
> requisite expertise to repair it.
> 
> I would love to fix the bugs myself, however there is the
> issue of money and time on my end.  Simply put I can't dedicate weeks
> of unpaid time to TDE each month; bills have to be paid and other tasks need
> to be finished.  Then there is the issue of varying platforms and
> distributions; I use Debian and Ubuntu and see no build problems
> whatsoever.  Linux can be somewhat infuriating for software developers for this
> reason; what works perfectly on one distribution fails on another.  I
> don't have the time or resources to install and learn every distribution that TDE
> runs on, so I rely on others to handle the repair of bugs that only show
> up on their distribution or setup.
> 
> HAL is slowly breaking down as the kernel changes, and there
> will eventually come a time when it just doesn't work any more,
> making the initial development of an alternative imperative.
> 
> The R14.0 release can be pushed back if needed, especially
> since Slavek Banko has been fixing critical bugs in the Debian/Ubuntu
> packages for 3.5.13.
> 
> I know it is frustrating, but please remember that we are
> all volunteers working on this project because in many cases the
> alternatives are even worse than a buggy release of TDE.  Just to be clear, I
> am not receiving payment for my work on TDE either; the money collected via
> the Donations page barely covers annual operating expenses, and many times
> falls short. If those involved in LiMux or any other major TDE deployment
> would provide coders willing to help squash bugs, or even sponsor the
> project, then we could make faster progress.  I have yet to see this
> happen.
> 
> For now I continue to fix bugs that are most irritating to
> me, as I have time, in the finest FOSS tradition. :-)  As others here
> do the same the bug list will slowly be whittled down, even if it takes
> longer than we would like.

Yeah, some days I'm a grumpy old man. Probably forgot my vitamins this morning. :)

I am aware of the importance of removing hal dependency. That needs to be fixed sooner or later.

Yes, we're all volunteers. I am too. None of us get paid in the conventional sense, but we all get paid in the reward of using the software. None of us receives any less than we bargained and some of us get a tad more now and then.

My plea to anybody subscribed to this list:

Please look through the bug tracker. Look at what fits your skills. You don't have to open a bug tracker account. Just send me the patch. Or send me the snippet of code you think should be changed and I'll make a patch. I'll do the testing.

Build related bugs need help most (if we can't build the full package we can't test and resolve usability bugs). Some bugs are automake problems, some cmake, some linking, some not finding tqt headers, etc.

Just a couple of bug reports a week and the back log dwindles. Trinity improves with each resolved bug report. Please consider joining a great little project. And you get to use the software too. :)

Let's make R14 shine!

Darrell