[curun1r]

For the record, I wasn't talking about the overall module system with my "design by committee" description, just the recent proposed changes. Whether there were only 7 votes or not, it definitely felt like there was an effort to appease as many of the people who commented on the issues as possible, and that wasn't a small number. Don't get me wrong...I think the community that has developed around Rust is awesome and somewhat unique for a technical project when it comes to the respect and civility that gets exhibited. But I think the module system is an area where having a talismanic figure capable of hearing input, deciding on a design aesthetic and then pushing the entire community to buy into it would yield superior results to a make-everyone-happy approach. And it feels like the changes that will be coming to Rust are more of the latter and limited to just the things that almost everyone agreed upon.

The difficulty is that I think the Rust process works better for changes that aren't as disruptive or fundamental to the language. The RFC process is not only open and fairly welcoming to people outside the core team, it's also a great educational resource. I've learned a lot about language design from reading the RFCs and the accompanying comments. So I don't think I'd trade the Rust model for a BDFL model. I just wish something more like Aaron's original proposal (the second original proposal, that is...the one that got turned into the most recent one) was being implemented, even though I disagreed with a good chunk of it.