I really cannot catch a break with a framework.

No sooner had I decided to use Mack as a framework, that the developer announces that it will no longer be maintained.

I am being pushed into a corner.

The only frameworks left that have the maturity I would like is Rails and Merb. Rails I am not too fond of the opinionated ways, and Merb will become Rails come version 3.

I think there is some sort of conspiracy theory going on out there to get everyone to use Rails. And too be honest as long as the Merb changes get rolled into Rails I wouldn’t mind. But the frameworks are in such a state of flux at the moment I am not sure what the right thing to do is. And I have no idea when Rails 3 will be ready.

Really I am just mentally tired of all of this. I would just like to use one framework that I like the philosophy behind and releases updates regularly. By that reasoning Merb would be the way to go, because although it will be merged to Rails 3, it, as the developers say, will have a clean upgrade path. Which should mean that it should act as just the next version of Merb.

So it is with some reluctance that I will go back to using Merb. What I am secretly hoping is that when Merb does get Merged into Rails 3 someone/some people will fork it and maintain it as a separate framework. I would love to do such a thing, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do such a thing. I am at a point where I just want to use something that works and that is flexible. I am tired of hopping for here to there. I am tired of the time and thought given to doing things that don’t produce useful code, like thinking what framework to use and migrating code from one framework to the next just to test it out. To be honest I am starting to feel like I did in the Good (bad) old Java days when I am just getting tired of it all.

So to preempt that this is the plan. I am going to take the thinking out of it all and say this. Rails and Ruby got me to carry on being a developer and Merb embodied all the  things I wanted from Rails even before I knew of the project. So I am done with the endless thinking. I will use Merb, and follow whatever path and route is shall take, whether that be a merge into Rails 3 or whatever. As long as the principles behind it are still the same I don’t care anymore.

It is either that or call it  a day and do something completely different unrelated with computers and work with real people, which almost happened in the good (bad) old java days.

So there you have it, the flux has stopped for me. Wherever Merb and its philosophy goes so will I. Whatever shape or form it takes, I will use it. If there ceases to be a Merb (whatever name or form it may have), well then, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. But I am pretty sure I know where that bridge will lead and am sure that it will lead out of developer town. But who knows, life has a way of surprising you.