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[[!tag open_issue_documentation]]

This should be integrated into [[/contributing]].

---

Every now and then, people show up who have an inward urge to contribute to the
GNU Hurd, but have some difficulties about how to do that.

For example, IRC, #hurd, 2010-10-06:

    <rah> I find it difficult to find the will to contribute to the hurd while hurd != hurd-ng
    <pochu> hurd-ng?
    <pochu> ah, http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd/ng.html
    <pochu> rah: you may want to work on achieving that then
    <rah> pochu: I'm not in a position to do OS research
    <antrik> rah: if you are not into OS research, why do you need it to be ngHurd? :-)
    <rah> antrik: I don't want to work on software which I know is already obsolete
    <tschwinge> rah: My position on that can be found here; you may want to think about it.  http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-hurd/2007-07/msg00111.html
    <antrik> rah: the existing Hurd implementation is not any more obsolete than any other large software project
    <antrik> there are always things that could be redone in a better way some time in the future
    <antrik> but we have to start somewhere
    <antrik> software development is a dynamic process
    <antrik> trying to come up with a perfect design before you write any code will never lead anywhere, ever
    <rah> antrik: of course, but when you know your start is wrong, have identified its problems, and are in the process of designing a second attempt, working on the first seems pointless
    <antrik> rah: well, do you know all these things? because I do not
    <antrik> what the experiments with new Hurd designs proved so far is that nobody is in a position to claim, "I have a better design"
    <antrik> it's not hard to come up with a design that is better in some points -- but it's damn hard to come up with one that's not lacking in others
    <antrik> the existing Hurd design is actually the only one which we *know* to work
    <antrik> while research on improving the design is certainly beneficial, it's not like there is something new ready to replace the existing design at any moment
    <antrik> and frankly, I'm more and more convinced that only iterative changes can ever result in any real improvement
    <antrik> (and doing these changes requires a certain momentum, which we will never gain unless we actually have something usable first)
    <LarstiQ> rah: afaik, not much is being done of designing another attempt
    <rah> antrik: yes, I know all these things