From owner-freebsd-bugbusters@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jan 12 10:27:54 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-bugbusters@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B47CD16A417; Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:27:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (gate6.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:2001:8b0:151:1::1]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 089BF13C447; Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:27:53 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id m0CARltv027673; Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:27:47 GMT (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) X-DKIM: Sendmail DKIM Filter v2.4.2 smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk m0CARltv027673 Authentication-Results: smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk; dkim=hardfail (SSP) header.i=unknown Message-ID: <47889623.3090203@infracaninophile.co.uk> Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:27:47 +0000 From: Matthew Seaman Organization: Infracaninophile User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (X11/20071122) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Mark Linimon References: <478556AD.6090400@bsdforen.de> <20080110003524.GB5188@soaustin.net> <200801111935.50821.peter.schuller@infidyne.com> <20080111204148.GA4787@soaustin.net> In-Reply-To: <20080111204148.GA4787@soaustin.net> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-3.0 (smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:::1]); Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:27:48 +0000 (GMT) X-Virus-Scanned: ClamAV 0.92/5478/Fri Jan 11 15:39:22 2008 on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=5.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,NO_RELAYS autolearn=ham version=3.2.3 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.2.3 (2007-08-08) on happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, freebsd-bugbusters@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Improving the handling of PR:s X-BeenThere: freebsd-bugbusters@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Coordination of the Problem Report handling effort." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:27:54 -0000 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Mark Linimon wrote: > It's clear that there are several people who want to help process the > PRs, and we don't have a good answer for them on "how can I contribute?". > The existing tool, and social conventions, don't allow for non-committers > to change PR states. As far as we've done in the past is to grant people > "GNATS access" rights but not "commit rights", on an experimental basis. > We've done this twice, and although it has worked well, just two people > isn't enough. (One has gone on to become a full committer -- which is > great!; the other current does not have as much time for FreeBSD work). > Several hundred PRs were dealt with by these two folks, so I consider the > experiment a success. > > What we used as a qualification was "track record of responding to PRs and > questions on mailing lists", fwiw. Most of my experience with submitting PRs is ports related. If I post a PR against a port I maintain then I'm pretty certain that it will be dealt with in a matter of days. PRs against other ports take perhaps a week. On the other hand, I've put in occasional PRs against the base system - -- where it's a whole other story. My favourite is a patch I sent in to allow using k, M, G etc. as order of magnitude modifiers on find(1)'s - -size predicate. It was committed recently after sitting in the PR database untouched for about 3 years. As I understand it, I think the reason for this difference in performance at resolving PRs is because there is a body of ports committers that basically expect to spend a lot of time committing other people's work, whereas src committers are generally focussed on their own projects and tend to commit what they or people closely associated with them have developed. Perhaps part of the answer is to create a new cadre of people with commit rights over parts of the src tree. These would be relatively junior people whose principal function would be to review and commit contributed patches, or bring them to the attention of any of the more senior people if the contribution warranted it. Senior people benefit by having fewer irrelevant distractions. General FreeBSD users benefit by knowing that contributions they make will be considered more promptly. People that volunteer for this benefit by gaining a broad introduction to the src code base -- surely a useful step for anyone with ambitions towards full committer-hood. Cheers, Matthew - -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate Kent, CT11 9PW -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4 (FreeBSD) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQFHiJYj8Mjk52CukIwRCLuHAJwM0u7m0lhus1KSvraV2dxMfvZELQCfZXFh iub5gnKeG8H7t7O5UFxLTpE= =sdaT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----