Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 2 Dec 2013 12:47:49 -0600
From:      Mark Linimon <linimon@lonesome.com>
To:        John Marino <dragonflybsd@marino.st>
Cc:        svn-ports-head@freebsd.org, svn-ports-all@freebsd.org, marino@freebsd.org, ports-committers@freebsd.org, Philippe =?iso-8859-1?Q?Aud=E9oud?= <jadawin@FreeBSD.org>, Rene Ladan <rene@FreeBSD.org>
Subject:   Re: svn commit: r335281 - in head: . audio audio/gnump3d
Message-ID:  <20131202184749.GC30485@lonesome.com>
In-Reply-To: <529CA16C.2060000@marino.st>
References:  <20131202093409.GA71618@tuxaco.net> <529C5F05.6020706@marino.st> <20131202104324.GB71618@tuxaco.net> <529C689B.9050902@marino.st> <20131202131244.GC71618@tuxaco.net> <529C8C1F.7050802@marino.st> <20131202134921.GD71618@tuxaco.net> <529C91F2.6020004@marino.st> <20131202145224.GH71618@tuxaco.net> <529CA16C.2060000@marino.st>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, Dec 02, 2013 at 04:04:12PM +0100, John Marino wrote:
> 3. This is the clause that needs updating.  It gives too much power
> to the listed MAINTAINER.  It could and should allow others to fix the
> port if it restores the port to how the maintainer intended. [...]
> Some of this "power" needs to be clawed back.

The problem is (from a past portmgr's viewpoint) is that there is no
"perfect" way to word a set of rules.  A corollary is that sometimes
if you try, you wind up with a lot of words that no one reads :-)

While on portmgr I maintained a deliberate bias in favor of existing
maintainers.  My reasoning is that contributing to FreeBSD is sometimes
hard and thankless, and if someone just hears too much negative feedback,
they may just find something else better to do.  (This has been my
experience with other volunteer efforts).  OTOH we really should expect
"best effort" from our maintainers, and if not, ask them to step down.
I don't think this was the case here.

Yes, doing so sometimes meant having to ask people to wait the two weeks
before taking an action, even if I personally agreed that the change was
obvious/needed/sane/etc.

It's just a problem with different ways of working and different ways of
communicating, aggravated by making assumptions.  As we can see in this
thread, it doesn't always work right.  There's no "fix" except realizing
that we're human and make mistakes.

My two cents.  I no longer have any official position, so take it for
what it's worth :-)

mcl



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20131202184749.GC30485>