[[!comment format=mdwn
 username="https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkWG4T4SGZxY-q4Wo8Jbxwb67g4J-WYmQM"
 nickname="Mark"
 subject="don't work on features option"
 date="2013-04-01T14:03:35Z"
 content="""
The \"don't work on features...\" poll entry is a bit vague, so I figured stating my interpretation of it and why I choose it might be a good idea.
I've had git-annex installed for the last few months during which it has been steadily improving, but IMO it still lacks polish.
From time to time I see transient issues: (even on the current version)

- random download stalling when I know the remote is accessible
- files disappearing then reappearing without an obvious cause
- xmmp hanging

I do not have any means of replicating these issues (though IIRC some of the recently worked on bugs related to these issues).
In my past experience this indicates that there are all sorts of 'fun' bugs hiding in the source which you seem to be chasing down.
Heck, I could have a simple configuration error from when I set things up on my remote server.
There was little documentation available when I setup my remote server for this and unless I have missed something in the RecentChanges feed, there still is relatively little.
So, some issues with my xmmp daemon, local ssh keys via ssh-agent, or bad $PATH stuff could be causing things to subtlety malfunction at no fault of git-annex.

Falling back to the command line only tends to be a good response, but outside of the assistant there does not seem to be any manual way to handle the special remotes.
Fair enough, but it would seem logical for error handling to recognize that these are assistant only urls rather than some generic \"bad url\".
Just getting the right error messages while a small touch would be a sign of some polish even though it is a nitpick.

Perhaps some simple test code run repeatedly to form a stress test could reveal some odd behavior, but I'm not sure myself.

With all of that said, I like what has been done so far and I'm hoping to see all the nooks of git-annex get the polishing that they deserve.
"""]]
