Re: [MAINTAINERS SUMMIT] Maintainer burnout

Jakub Kicinski
2023-08-18T15:09:50Z

On Fri, 18 Aug 2023 15:55:11 +0200 Linus Walleij wrote:
> > We're trying to encourage active developers to be code reviewers as well
> > via positive/negative scores:
> > https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/ZJx8sBW%2FQPOBswNF@google.com/
> >
> > It doesn't help much yet. All incoming kernel contributors assume
> > that it's a maintainer's job to do code reviews.
> > Developers just send patches and wait. It doesn't occur to them that
> > reviewing other patches will help them land their own.
>
> The DRI/DRM community has group maintainership that works a little
> bit.
> Essentially it boils down to ask people to review your stuff and you
> will review and also merge their stuff in return.
> Sometimes this works.
> Especially if you are a circle of acquaintances working full
> time on similar things, yay! So much support.
> When you are a sporadic contributor it doesn't work as well.
> Because you cannot always find some matching contribution to
> review and you feel like begging.
> So different solutions for different contributors may be needed.

I keep bringing this up at the TAB meetings and after the last
maintainer summit to Linus and Ted but I feel like information
sharing and community building across subsystem is missing.
I was wondering last time if we can do a run of short sessions
where a few volunteers talk about their subsystems? Let's say
10min talking about
- current process subsystem uses
- "realities" / day to day challenges / problems
- how the subsystem is evolving the process

We keep trying various things in our neck of the woods, I'm can
talk about net, anyone else thinks this would be useful and wants
to volunteer?