What a Guy!
This week something magical happened and therefore there is someone we owe a great deal of thanks to. As is usual with open source it took one person a huge amount of effort to step up and complete something that needed to be done.
Two days ago, it was announced that the Perl 5 repository was being shifted to Git. After many hours, days and months wrangling with all of the numerous repositories that Perl 5 has used in the past, Sam Vilain managed to somehow mung it all into one coherent Git repo!
Earlier this year, I remember when he would speak to us in work when he was probably right in the middle of doing his various custom conversion tools. He'd be telling us about Git and how other version control systems were lacking in comparison. There was definitely a point whereby everyone would take the piss and note "Hey Sam, you talking about version control systems again?" It is obviously a subject near and dear to his heart.
I'm lucky though since I get to work with such clever and interesting people. Usually those who I consider a bit of a hero due to all of the work they have done, either in groups or individually and for such a good cause (in my opinion) too.
I get to speak to Sam quite regularly, sometimes Perl and sometimes whatever other random subject he's been looking into recently. He's even contributed to a a project of mine (cil) though wish I could say the help was reciprocal. Admittedly, I don't always understand what he's saying - not the words mind, just the sentences(!) - but that's okay, it's good to listen to someone who is a naturally free thinker.
I also found another link from the GitHub guys who also obviously took a liking to our Sam (describing his effort as a heroic one): A Perl Clone Appearing on GitHub.
Just as an interesting note, if I were to describe Sam and his Perl exploits in terms of the TV show Red Dwarf, he'd be a bit like the 'Ace' version of Arnold Rimmer from a parrallel universe. You know, the one where 'Ace' always says:
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
to which the rest of the crew just mutter:
What a guy!
Sam, you're a good guy, well done and thanks for all your effort in porting the Perl 5 repo over to Git. Sometimes I feel both Perl and Git go hand in hand since they both have that powerful yet non-restrictive way about them.
And finally, to sign off ... if I were one of the Arnold Rimmers from a parallel universe, I'd be the classic Rimmer we all know and love. And his phrase would be quite apt at this very moment in time:
Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for Christmas.
Signing off for this year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!
This post originated on http://chilts.org/.
Email me on andychilton -at- gmail -dot- com.