These are my personal opinions, nothing more.
First, for end-users: No firmware modification can be guaranteed to be safe. That said, ML is probably as safe as it can be. TL isn't as aggressive in trying to be safe. That's not to say it will irreversibly brick your camera; hasn't happened (reported) to anyone yet, but past performance is no guarantee of future results.
You may have read about the possibility of a merge. Do understand, this isn't a simple process. If two people start with the same book, and they proceed to rewrite certain sentences, paragraphs, add chapters, tables, diagrams, and so forth, the books will look similar, but you can't just swap pages between them. That's what the merge would be; trying to bring some of the pages from the second book, into the current revision of the first. And making sure there's no missing references, e.g. "see explanation in the next chapter" wont work, if that chapter isn't also merged.
Deciding whether to run ML, TL, or anything else, is about risk acceptance; decide what your level of risk tolerance is, and whether the features are worth it to you. If you run either, you can help yourself (and everyone else) by reading the guidelines for bug reports. Bug reports are like a meal; fresh food, good flavor, adequate portions, and some dessert will help keep them going, and remind them you care.
Second, to the devs. Open source projects are typically a labor of love, and heartache is inevitable. Watching a project grow beyond your personal use, especially over significant time, expansion, and contribution of others, it carries a lot of rewards, and frustrations. Hindsight is a cruel mistress, and everyone's a critic. Reading this thread, I found significant insights into some of the frustrations that are at play; the statement of them felt particularly candid, and I believe that's an important and useful thing.
As developers, you're giving time, but it's backed by critical knowledge. We, as the community, can't afford to lose you; it's unlikely you'd ever be replaced. Most users want to help, but are untrained in how to do so; often, they'd rather be quiet, than be unhelpful. Of course, there's those who are unaware or ignorant of the realities of a project of this scale. The single most important thing I can suggest, is an open and ongoing dialog; candid and forthcoming. And remember, many more would try to help, if they knew their efforts wouldn't be counter-productive.
tl;dr: Thank you, good luck, stay strong, and don't be shy; communication is crucial to success of any project that has more than one person involved, be it collaborators or users.
First, for end-users: No firmware modification can be guaranteed to be safe. That said, ML is probably as safe as it can be. TL isn't as aggressive in trying to be safe. That's not to say it will irreversibly brick your camera; hasn't happened (reported) to anyone yet, but past performance is no guarantee of future results.
You may have read about the possibility of a merge. Do understand, this isn't a simple process. If two people start with the same book, and they proceed to rewrite certain sentences, paragraphs, add chapters, tables, diagrams, and so forth, the books will look similar, but you can't just swap pages between them. That's what the merge would be; trying to bring some of the pages from the second book, into the current revision of the first. And making sure there's no missing references, e.g. "see explanation in the next chapter" wont work, if that chapter isn't also merged.
Deciding whether to run ML, TL, or anything else, is about risk acceptance; decide what your level of risk tolerance is, and whether the features are worth it to you. If you run either, you can help yourself (and everyone else) by reading the guidelines for bug reports. Bug reports are like a meal; fresh food, good flavor, adequate portions, and some dessert will help keep them going, and remind them you care.
Second, to the devs. Open source projects are typically a labor of love, and heartache is inevitable. Watching a project grow beyond your personal use, especially over significant time, expansion, and contribution of others, it carries a lot of rewards, and frustrations. Hindsight is a cruel mistress, and everyone's a critic. Reading this thread, I found significant insights into some of the frustrations that are at play; the statement of them felt particularly candid, and I believe that's an important and useful thing.
As developers, you're giving time, but it's backed by critical knowledge. We, as the community, can't afford to lose you; it's unlikely you'd ever be replaced. Most users want to help, but are untrained in how to do so; often, they'd rather be quiet, than be unhelpful. Of course, there's those who are unaware or ignorant of the realities of a project of this scale. The single most important thing I can suggest, is an open and ongoing dialog; candid and forthcoming. And remember, many more would try to help, if they knew their efforts wouldn't be counter-productive.
tl;dr: Thank you, good luck, stay strong, and don't be shy; communication is crucial to success of any project that has more than one person involved, be it collaborators or users.