[MacPerl] Looking to outsource CFM-68K builds

[Matthias Ulrich Neeracher <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch>]

Hello everybody,

today, I'd like to reconcile two of my new year's resolutions:

 - Moving forward on dynamically loaded extensions to MacPerl5
 - Delegating more responsibility for MacPerl5 to other people

Let me start with the first issue: With Perl5, it is in principle possible to
load extensions written in C, C++ or (in theory) other languages at
runtime. Needless to say, this would be immensely useful for many purposes,
especially for the toolbox support I'd like to gradually develop. Dynamically
loaded extensions work fine for PowerPC Perl5, thanks to the Code Fragment
Manager (CFM); what's holding back progress is the 68K side. Now, thanks to
OpenDoc, support for CFM-68K has grown reliable enough to try porting MacPerl5
to it. However, CFM-68K will reportedly not run under emulation, and I don't
have any 68K machines at home.

Regarding the second issue, I'm pleased to report that Sandra Silcot and Hal
Wine are doing outstanding jobs in technical support, and many others are
apparently contributing to providing Perl information with Web pages or by
answering questions on and off this mailing list. Thanks to all of you!
However, in the actual coding, collaborations are not going so well, and I
suspect what's to blame is my inability to identify manageable subtasks and
to delegate them.

Now I see a chance to solve the CFM-68K problem and at the same time get the
delegation process started. What I'm looking for is a:

      PROGRAMMER IN CHARGE OF CFM-68K BUILDS

Responsibilities:
 - Making the (probably few) changes necessary to build MacPerl as a CFM-68K
   application and communicating them back to me.
 - Tracking the changes in MacPerl5 and following up new releases of MacPerl5
   within a few weeks. In my opinion, the CFM-68K version should be released
   as the application and/or tool only and refer the user to the normal
   package for the rest of the files.
 - Collaborate with me on (yet to be developed) dynamically linked extensions,
   focusing on the CFM-68K build part.

Requirements:
 - Must own Metrowerks Codewarrior 7 or later.
 - Experience with C.
 - Willingness to do disciplined maintenance work (i.e., keep changes to the
   MacPerl sources localized and mark them clearly) (documentation optional :-)
 - Willingness to either use the MPW Shell and figure out the current MacPerl
   build process or to build a CodeWarrior project file from scratch.
 - Experience with CFM-68K or willingness to learn about it.
 - Stubbornness to get the code running.
 - Previous experiance with (Mac)Perl builds a plus.

We offer:
 - Flexible working hours.
 - Membership in a small, international, and sometimes motivated team (me :-).
 - A prominent spot on the credits screen.
 - Fame, name recognition, occasional spontaneous outbursts of gratitude.
 
If you fit the above profile, please contact me. 

Matthias

-----
Matthias Neeracher <neeri@iis.ee.ethz.ch> http://err.ethz.ch/members/neeri.html
   "The fundamental act of friendship among programmers is the sharing
    of programs." -- Richard Stallman, _The Gnu Manifesto_