Re: [gentoo-project] The problem of defunct and undermanned projects in Gentoo

[Aaron Bauman <bman@gentoo.org>]

On Wednesday, July 19, 2017 1:34:52 PM EDT Ian Stakenvicius wrote:
> On 18/07/17 05:40 PM, Michał Górny wrote:
> > On wto, 2017-07-18 at 22:35 +0100, M. J. Everitt wrote:
> >> On 18/07/17 22:23, Kent Fredric wrote:
> >>> On Tue, 18 Jul 2017 22:12:45 +0100
> >>> 
> >>> "M. J. Everitt" <m.j.everitt@iee.org> wrote:
> >>>> I think mgorny was doing some general commit stats, and I have yet to
> >>>> compile my own, but it would be very interesting to see how many
> >>>> 'active' team members there were in any given project. I suspect the
> >>>> results could be very telling ...
> >>> 
> >>> Its not even like they're "inactive", they're just not active *in the
> >>> team*.
> >>> 
> >>> For some, there's no reason for them to devaway:
> >>> 
> >>> - They're on IRC
> >>> - They commit daily
> >>> 
> >>> But they're on teams they seldom do things in.
> >>> 
> >>> This is probably more true the more teams you're on.
> >> 
> >> Then why are you 'in' the team.. I mean, there's one thing to idle on an
> >> IRC channel, but membership does normally imply some form of
> >> contribution, no? Or is it just to make you 'look'
> >> interested/popular/part-of-the-furniture ....
> > 
> > Well, that *is* a problem. However, we are supposed to be friendly
> > and nice, and not tell other developers that they have done literally
> > nothing during the 2 years they're part of some project. That could
> > discourage them from contributing.
> 
> OK, so here's the flipside of this.  I'm a member of a few projects
> because I help take care of just a couple of things or maybe even just
> a gentoo-carried patch.  Being a project member is necessary as I do
> want to have the commit rights on the project, but I'm -not- nor ever
> meant to be a general project member or overall maintainer or dev.
> 
> So does that mean I should remove myself from these projects?  Or
> maybe do we just need some sort of 'occasional contributor' status to
> the project membership?  Or should things just stay as they are?

Developers receive commit rights across the tree once they pass their ebuild 
quiz and are onboarded.  The ability to make an "acceptable" commit is based 
upon your membership to a particular project.  If you do not feel you are a 
"general project member" then work with the particular project you are 
attempting to help.  I  *doubt* they will deny you the ability to commit on 
their behalf.  Let's not attempt to define yet another category of contribution 
in order to make people feel welcome.  

Work with people.

-Aaron