[quake3] Rendering System.. Was Re: How far can SGI MIPS, Sun SPARC, and LinuxPPC go?

[monk at rq3.com]

Before this gets too messy, I think Chris is just really enthusiastic
about going a direction with ioq3 that probably most of the other people
on this list aren't interested in going.  If they were interested in it,
they'd already be contributing to one of the other C++ or managed code
ports of q3 that are on the 'net.

The discussion is about how we can and if we should build in improvements
into ioq3.  I think for a majority of the list there is agreement with
Zakk's stated goals of:

"Stability. Compatibility. Portability. Security. Scalability. This is
pretty much my current idea of how I want priorities ordered."

There's nothing WRONG with your ideas, Chris, it's just that most people
don't want to go that route.  Obviously many OTHER people do--you linked
to some q3 source projects that are doing what you're recommending.  But
it's just not the people involved with ioq3 who want to go that route. 
Basically, you've already followed your own advice.  If anyone wants to
contribute to your Q3 fork, I'm sure they'll contact ya.  But you should
probably accept that ioq3 developers are more conservative and want to
take an incremental approach to adding features that will work with a
majority of the platforms they currently support.

As for the bugs in svn from 2+ years ago, I dunno.  Looking at some of
them like ipv6 support, they aren't really showstopper bugs.  Most of the
ones that are still an issue are there because it's hard to get someone to
find the time to test on an esoteric platform.  I mean, for the first 10
out of 47 "bugs" we have:

2355 - ipv6, enhancement, work scrapped and restarted
2465 - powerpc bytecode compiler issue, fixed?
2523 - powerpc roq video issue
2571 - com_zoneMegs partial fix and discussion
2578 - compiler flag makes ioq3 stutter, workaround available
2632 - menus displaying incorrectly, maybe fixed
2681 - win64 patch, author never followed up
2715 - osx app bundle issue, fixed?
2744 - credits screen aspect ratio wrong for widescreen
2748 - monitor going to powersave resets q3 brightness

There's no showstoppers and several are probably already fixed but the
original reporter hasn't updated the entry.

I know it was a bit of a dig about how slow and ponderous progress is with
ioq3, but really when you look at it, ioq3 should be commended for fixing
a ton of stuff and adding a bunch of new features that work on all the
platforms it supports.  And even though those features aren't flashy, they
still improve the overall experience.  Yes, *I* would love some Doom
3-esque rendering, but automatic detection of available resolutions and
their aspect ratios is extremely useful and user-friendly.  Maybe not
flashy, but it's a wonderful enhancement.

Maybe at some point people will want to rewrite ioq3 into some managed
language or OO language (Ada?  Smalltalk?!?), but right now it's not in
the cards.  A year or two ago I tried to pitch the value of ioq3
"enhancements" but it wasn't well-received.  But hey, that's life.  I
backed off and waited and perhaps now is a better time to discuss possible
enhancements.

Perhaps your time will come when most of the people on the ioq3 dev list
will be receptive to your ideas.  I don't think this is that time, though.
 The best course is to be graceful and help with whatever you can.  You
can only push your own agenda so much before people start reacting poorly
to your ideas.  We know what you think is the best route to take; we just
don't agree.  No malice, just polite disagreement, is all.  Further
pushing is, at this point, not going to be productive.

I hope that's a more tactful way of addressing the realities of the
situation before things get unnecessarily heated.  BTW, Zakk = one of them
blokes who is "in charge".  Me = someone who provides no practical
contribution to the ioq3 project besides lengthy emails.  I'm not speaking
from any position of authority, I'm just trying to help facilitate the
discussion, is all.

Monk.