[gentoo-dev] Re: [gentoo-project] RFC: "Trusted contributor model"

[Joonas Niilola]

On 22.7.2022 21.32, Robin H. Johnson wrote:
>
> BUT, we can't write a simple gitolite ACL that limits the content within
> profiles/package.mask or other files in profiles/ (we can write hooks
> that might be able to do this, but that still requires the challenge of
> validation inside the file).
>
> I'd EXPECT a contributor to WANT to package.mask a cutting edge version
> so it has time to bake and get well-tested, but if they can't do both
> parts of the commit themselves, this process is likely problematic.

Well as I said I think the best way is to fall back to the current way
of a dev merging it, via Github PR or other means. I'd say pushing these
experimental packages is rather rare (for proxied people at least), and
can also be added without KEYWORDS for example.


>
> How do we make the mentorship process more lightweight?
> (and possibly the quiz process, I haven't seen how the quiz has changed
> since I last mentored)
>
> Let's start with a potential intersection of your two ideas:
> (these numbers are arbitrary, but try to reflect what I see some of the
> trusted contributors doing)
> - 9 good submissions (patches or PRs) over a 3 month period [must be at least 3/month]
> - will get you an invite from recruiters to join
> - either without a mentor, or a lightweight mentor
>

This is a bit complicated topic and I'm not sure if I'm the best one to
answer the mentoring part. But I'd like to point out this kind of
teaching and/or "lighweight mentoring" happen everyday in
#gentoo-dev-help, #gentoo-proxy-maint and in related IRC channels, and
in Github PRs... just that it's done by multiple different people in
different places. So many people add a little bit to one's growth
instead of one/two people adding a lot, making weaker bonds with
contributors.

Then again I would say the entry bar is very high right now, which in
return gives us high quality developers, but maybe less people are even
interested in attempting it. With these propositions I guess we can
focus less on the quiz, and more on the existing positive contributions
and interactions when considering someone.

So to help "lightweight mentoring": Grant some person you've been
proxying commit access, follow their commits and their bugzilla
activity, and after some time if you get good vibes from the person,
encourage them to widen their contribution areas. If they manage it
after a while, they have most likely accumulated enough experience and
knowledge to get recruited.
If you tell people to attempt the quiz after seeing 10 commits from
them, and after they've been around for a month, it's most likely going
to end up being a very long road for everyone involved. Please don't try
to rush and force the quiz - if GOOD verbose answers come naturally, the
person is most likely ready.

As I was trying to present in the original post, this way of recruiting
would be for someone who's been around for a long time already (+year)
and has been actively contributing and participating in the community,
keeping up with Gentoo's development changes. It's not for someone
trying to rush their recruitment. So in your example, I _doubt_ we'd
take the initiative. But then again, it's really about people who
impress us and make us say "why hasn't this person been recruited
already?" - there are no metrics we should even try to list here.

-- juippis