[Python-Dev] Encouraging developers

[Neal Norwitz]

On 3/6/07, Ron Adam <rrr at ronadam.com> wrote:
> Neal Norwitz wrote:
>
> I'm looking forward to a new tracker and hope it manages single projects...
> (patches and bugs) better.  It would be great if we could search for items
> based on possibly the following conditions.

The best place to discuss these things are on tracker-discuss.  I
think everything is pretty much done, we are waiting for someone to
help write doc (Brett knows more about this).  We are also waiting
until after 2.5.1 is out before we switch over so there aren't
unforeseen issues with the release.  Hopefully 2.5.1 will be out in a
month.

> *Note: Rejections could be done sooner if it obviously a bad idea.

Agreed.

Note: I review nearly all traffic on patches through the mailing list.
 If I see someone say this patch should be rejected and I agree, I
will do it immediately.  I rarely do that because I don't see those
comments.  Mostly I just close duplicates that happen from time to
time.

> In the case of bugs, the tests would probably come first in order to verify
> and reproduce the specific bug.

Yup.  Also write a test case if one doesn't exist.  That will greatly
speed debugging.  Adding helpful information about what platform the
problem occurs on can speed things up too.  Writing a NEWS entry would
also speed things up.

This may sound kinda stupid, but if enough people help out, it might
reduce the time it takes to fix a bug from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
If I only have 15 minutes to work on a problem, it's the difference
between it getting fixed or remaining unresolved.

> What something like this would do is effectively distribute knowledge as
> you suggest.  For example someone good at writing docs could do a search
> for all patches that do not have doc's or need docs reviewed and contribute
> in that way.  The same for someone interested in writing and reviewing tests.

Yes, every little bit helps!

> I wonder if a tracker could also have patch requests.  Similar to bugs,
> except it's more of a todo list.  Oh, never mind there is a feature request
>   group already.  Could that possibly be extended to other areas?

I don't know what you mean, can you clarify?

n