What's your feeling about this, qhoxie? I remember from your earlier posts that you recommended merb over rails. Are you confident this merge is going to be the best of both worlds? I don't know enough to have an opinion.
The information as stated makes me a bit wary, but I have a lot of respect for and trust in the Merb team with Yehuda and Ezra in particular. In speaking with them in #merb, they seemed very excited about this, so I cannot help but be optimistic.
That said, the wording of things currently is unsettling. This happened because Merb is considered technically better, more sophisticated, and Rails has the backing and the momentum. They merge so that both have both. I have some qualms with the fact that Merb seems to be taking a back-seat in titles like Merb is being merged into Rails.
I worry that Merb will feel like Rails when it really should be the opposite. This has been mentioned in #merb and, again, Yehuda assures us we will be happy. I believe that, even though it's all a bit hard to digest.
I have some qualms with the fact that Merb seems to be taking a back-seat in titles like "Merb is being merged into Rails".
But that's the correct phrasing no matter what the underlying technical reality is. Rails is the established brand! People know what Rails is! Nobody but blog-reading Ruby programmers has any idea what Merb is!
Even if the plan was to throw all existing Rails code in the trash and have the Rails core team switch to Merb, they would still call the result "Rails". Throwing away the Rails brand would be insane, and diluting it by calling it "Rails/Merb" or "Mails" or something would likewise be insane.
Even if the plan was to throw all existing Rails code in the trash and have the Rails core team switch to Merb, they would still call the result "Rails". Throwing away the Rails brand would be insane, and diluting it by calling it "Rails/Merb" or "Mails" or something would likewise be insane.
I completely agree. It should keep the Rails name. That is not my point though. They will have to rewrite most of the core and probably use large portions of Merb, that is not merging Merb into Rails. It could be a merger of the two projects, or even rebranding Merb as Rails, but it's not that.
I am certain it is a breath of relief for the Rails camp, but all of the important figures from the Merb side of things have expressed that they are content about it. Scouring the Merb developer blogs reveals this.
Maybe this is an opportunity for someone to protect what Merb has achieved by branching off the project at its current stage and insisting on its distinct identity from Rails. Don't know if there would be any value in this but at least it might avoid the dilution of features that seems possible once it gets merged with Rails.
No, not now. Yehuda has expressed many times how that he fully expects the community to take action if they are not happy with the Merb/Rails path. The situation is not such right now.
Lots of us are skeptical, but it is very important that we support this. That way, any issues will be mitigated.
