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From: Tim Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com>
To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Concerns about community contributor support
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2021 16:17:23 +1000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <87lf96uagf.fsf@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <87v98b0yvm.fsf@gnu.org>


Bastien <bzg@gnu.org> writes:

> Dear Timothy,
>
> thanks for raising this points so carefully, they are important.
>
> I see three distinct problems:
>
> 1. The lack of response and/or follow-up when people contribute by
>    sending bug reports or patches on the list.
>
> 2. The lack of maintainance on documenting the contribution process
>    and the correct expectations for future contributors.
>
> 3. The inherent difficulty to move the Org codebase forward.
>
> I won't comment on (3).  For (1) and (2), I suggest appointing a
> "contributor steward" with these responsibilities:
>
> 1. Maintain updates.orgmode.org (i.e. make sure it is accurate.)
> 2. Maintain the documentation for contributors.
> 3. Help contributors enhancing their patches.
> 4. Try to reproduce bugs (and confirm them for updates.orgmode.org)
> 5. Make sure patch contributors are not left with no answer.
>
> You started (1), which is really appreciated.
>
> Tim and others mentioned (2), and that's certainly needed too.
>
> (3) has historically been the role of the maintainer and of the core
> contributors, but helping with this is very welcome: knowing the doc
> at https://orgmode.org/worg/org-contribute.html by heart, educating
> contributors on the commit messages, etc.  This all helps.
>
> (4) is perhaps the most daunting task: I even think we could have
> someone only dedicated to this very important task.  Just count the
> number of times Nicolas says "I cannot reproduce this."  Each time,
> there is a real bug that is *not* fixed...
>
> (5) is not about systematically welcome patch submitters with a
> message (that would be annoying) but to monitor updates.orgmode.org
> and decide what to do with a patch that didn't receive feedback:
> either say thanks and ping the list for why you think the patch
> deserves more attention, or thanks and dismiss the patch, or another
> answer.
>
> What do you think?  Would you be willing to take this role?
>
> If not, that's perfectly okay, I'll send a call for help.
>
Hi Bastien et. al.

I agree and am willing to help if I can.

One thing I do think would be helpful, particularly for documentation on
maintenance of org mode, would be a clear outline of project goals and
philosophy. Some of this would be 'concrete' statements, such as the
minimum supported Emacs version, size of contribution and requirements
to sign FSF copyright assignment paperwork, inclusion of acceptance
tests, documentation, maintenance of backwards compatibility, API
stability etc. Other parts would be more 'fuzzy' guidelines, such as
avoiding complexity and 'blow out' in options/arguments, balancing
features and maintainability, what should become part of org core and
what should be in contributions or a completely separate add on package
and what guidelines are used in assessing extensions/enhancements for
inclusion etc.

It will be challenging to define this as there are a wide diversity of
views and priorities amongst the community. However, I think it would be
an overall benefit for both the community and on-going development of
org mode. 

While I would be happy to help with this, I think the initial content at
least needs to come from current key maintainers and if possible, some
input from Carsten would be good. 

-- 
Tim Cross


  parent reply	other threads:[~2021-04-25  6:48 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 55+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2021-04-16 18:43 Concerns about community contributor support Timothy
2021-04-17 23:29 ` Thomas S. Dye
2021-04-18  1:56   ` Tim Cross
2021-04-18 19:39     ` Timothy
2021-04-18 22:45       ` Tim Cross
2021-04-19 21:43     ` David Masterson
2021-04-19 22:21       ` Gustav Wikström
2021-04-23  0:16         ` David Masterson
2021-04-19 23:46       ` Tim Cross
2021-04-20  8:21         ` Tom Gillespie
2021-04-23  0:34           ` David Masterson
2021-04-20  9:28       ` Jean Louis
2021-04-23  0:38         ` David Masterson
2021-04-18  5:04   ` Timothy
2021-04-18 18:45     ` Thomas S. Dye
2021-04-18 19:12       ` Timothy
2021-04-18 19:46         ` Thomas S. Dye
2021-04-18 19:59           ` Timothy
     [not found] ` <a64adc3de7be49039372851ea31e4f7c@VI1PR0102MB3327.eurprd01.prod.exchangelabs.com>
2021-04-19 10:04   ` Eric S Fraga
2021-04-20  3:54     ` Timothy
2021-04-19 22:07 ` Gustav Wikström
2021-04-21  9:33   ` Jean Louis
2021-04-21  9:50     ` Tim Cross
2021-04-21 10:25       ` Heinz Tuechler
2021-04-21 12:55         ` ian martins
2021-04-21 13:07         ` Timothy
     [not found]         ` <1c557c0e35e04440ba2dadfe57e5b590@VI1PR0102MB3327.eurprd01.prod.exchangelabs.com>
2021-04-21 13:27           ` Eric S Fraga
2021-04-21 15:31             ` ian martins
2021-04-21 15:38               ` Bruce D'Arcus
2021-04-21 19:35                 ` Tim Cross
2021-04-22  0:36                   ` ian martins
2021-04-22  0:48                     ` Tim Cross
2021-04-22  2:35                       ` Timothy
2021-04-22  5:14                         ` Maintaining babel packages — a list of packages that need help? Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide
2021-04-22 10:10                           ` ian martins
2021-04-26  7:25                           ` Bastien
2021-04-22 10:00                       ` Concerns about community contributor support ian martins
2021-04-21 19:31             ` Tim Cross
2021-04-25  4:30 ` Bastien
2021-04-25  5:52   ` Contributor Steward role (was Re: Concerns about community contributor support) Timothy
2021-04-25  7:13     ` Bastien
2021-04-25  6:17   ` Tim Cross [this message]
2021-04-25  7:19     ` Concerns about community contributor support Bastien
2021-04-26  0:23       ` Tim Cross
2021-04-26  5:00         ` Bastien
2021-04-26  6:07           ` Tim Cross
2021-04-26  7:34             ` Bastien
2021-04-25 10:10   ` Help with reproducing bugs reported on this list (was: Concerns about community contributor support) Bastien
2021-04-27  6:28     ` Help with reproducing bugs reported on this list Bastien
2021-04-25 21:40   ` Concerns about community contributor support Nick Savage
2021-04-26  7:22     ` Bastien
2021-04-29 14:07 ` D
2021-04-29 14:16   ` Bastien
2021-04-29 14:44     ` D
2021-04-29 14:29   ` Ihor Radchenko

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