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Unfortunately, the audience for this note most likely comprises people |
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who will not see it, but perhaps it will be useful anyway. However, |
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it's been a while since I've sent a long, rambling note, so here we |
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go.... |
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|
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Once or twice a week, devrel ((Gentoo) Developer Relations) is assigned |
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a new bug of the form "I updated sci-calculators/units and it now claims |
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that 1 light year = 4 mm." While this would be a bug, it is not one |
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devrel can do anything about: As the name suggests, devrel is concerned |
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with people, not with packages, and devrel does not address problems |
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like a misbehaving "units" package. When we get such a report, we have |
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to notice we have an inappropriate bug, then reassign it. This serves |
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only to annoy us and to delay a resolution for the reporter. Please do |
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not assign software bugs to devrel. |
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|
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That said, now that I have your attention, I'll continue a bit with some |
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suggestions describing what a good devrel bug might be. Devrel bugs are |
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concerned generally with recruiting developers, retiring developers, and |
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conflicts between developers. I am focusing on the last of these. |
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|
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A few months ago I floated an RFC (attached, and at |
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http://dev.gentoo.org/~fmccor/devrel/DevrelBug.rfc.txt ) outlining some |
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thoughts on what information is useful for helping devrel sort out a bug |
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in which one developer is complaining about some other developer's |
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behavior and is requesting some sort of devrel intervention. The RFC |
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was not met with hostility, so I am sending it on to this mailing list |
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for feedback and suggestions. |
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|
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Please note that the RFC refers to devrel policy, and that the policy is |
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undergoing revision. However, this does not affect the RFC; it affects |
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only what the RFC is referring to. |
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|
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Although it is not emphasised in the RFC, I should add that when you |
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have such a complaint, it really helps everybody (including you) if you |
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try to resolve it by other means before filing a bug. In case you do |
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not remember, we have an ombudsman group (ombudsman@g.o) within |
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devrel whose charter is just that: help to mediate a solution before |
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escalating the problem to a level where you probably don't want it. I |
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note in passing that actually most devrel members will help resolve such |
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problems if you ask them (in case you have a favorite devrel member |
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whose style you are comfortable with), but if you do that, be prepared |
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for a referral to the ombudsman or working with that particular devrel |
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member's own eccentricities (e.g., if you ask me, be prepared for very |
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long ("may I have 5 minutes please?") discussions on IRC; others prefer |
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to work with email, etc.). |
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|
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|
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|
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If you are still with me, thanks for your attention. |
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Regards, |
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Ferris |
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|
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-- |
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Ferris McCormick (P44646, MI) <fmccor@g.o> |
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Developer, Gentoo Linux (Devrel, Sparc) |