Gentoo Archives: gentoo-dev

From: Ferris McCormick <fmccor@g.o>
To: Gentoo Developers <gentoo-dev@l.g.o>
Subject: [gentoo-dev] What is a devrel bug?
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 12:28:05
Message-Id: 1153743760.19525.55.camel@liasis.inforead.com
1 Unfortunately, the audience for this note most likely comprises people
2 who will not see it, but perhaps it will be useful anyway. However,
3 it's been a while since I've sent a long, rambling note, so here we
4 go....
5
6 Once or twice a week, devrel ((Gentoo) Developer Relations) is assigned
7 a new bug of the form "I updated sci-calculators/units and it now claims
8 that 1 light year = 4 mm." While this would be a bug, it is not one
9 devrel can do anything about: As the name suggests, devrel is concerned
10 with people, not with packages, and devrel does not address problems
11 like a misbehaving "units" package. When we get such a report, we have
12 to notice we have an inappropriate bug, then reassign it. This serves
13 only to annoy us and to delay a resolution for the reporter. Please do
14 not assign software bugs to devrel.
15
16 That said, now that I have your attention, I'll continue a bit with some
17 suggestions describing what a good devrel bug might be. Devrel bugs are
18 concerned generally with recruiting developers, retiring developers, and
19 conflicts between developers. I am focusing on the last of these.
20
21 A few months ago I floated an RFC (attached, and at
22 http://dev.gentoo.org/~fmccor/devrel/DevrelBug.rfc.txt ) outlining some
23 thoughts on what information is useful for helping devrel sort out a bug
24 in which one developer is complaining about some other developer's
25 behavior and is requesting some sort of devrel intervention. The RFC
26 was not met with hostility, so I am sending it on to this mailing list
27 for feedback and suggestions.
28
29 Please note that the RFC refers to devrel policy, and that the policy is
30 undergoing revision. However, this does not affect the RFC; it affects
31 only what the RFC is referring to.
32
33 Although it is not emphasised in the RFC, I should add that when you
34 have such a complaint, it really helps everybody (including you) if you
35 try to resolve it by other means before filing a bug. In case you do
36 not remember, we have an ombudsman group (ombudsman@g.o) within
37 devrel whose charter is just that: help to mediate a solution before
38 escalating the problem to a level where you probably don't want it. I
39 note in passing that actually most devrel members will help resolve such
40 problems if you ask them (in case you have a favorite devrel member
41 whose style you are comfortable with), but if you do that, be prepared
42 for a referral to the ombudsman or working with that particular devrel
43 member's own eccentricities (e.g., if you ask me, be prepared for very
44 long ("may I have 5 minutes please?") discussions on IRC; others prefer
45 to work with email, etc.).
46
47
48
49 If you are still with me, thanks for your attention.
50 Regards,
51 Ferris
52
53 --
54 Ferris McCormick (P44646, MI) <fmccor@g.o>
55 Developer, Gentoo Linux (Devrel, Sparc)

Attachments

File name MIME type
DevrelBug.rfc.txt text/plain
signature.asc application/pgp-signature