Re: Who wants to maintain KR list for stable releases?

Stefan Richter
2007-09-03T13:21:48Z

Adrian Bunk wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 30, 2007 at 05:24:37PM +0200, Stefan Richter wrote:
[on whether to track missing features]
>> Where I am around, there are always far too few people who fix things
>> and build things. But very, very occasionally there is someone new who
>> wonders if there is an interesting TODO item which is perhaps in the
>> reach of his abilities. Contributing a cleanup or an actual feature is
>> typically much easier than fixing an open, tracked bug. (The bugs which
>> end up in the bugtracker are usually the difficult ones.) The
>> contributor learns something and, in a rare turn of events, may
>> eventually become able and willing to join the bugfixing.
>
> "Contributing a cleanup" is what the Kernel Janitor Project
> already offers.
>
> But "Contributing an actual feature" is much harder:
>
> You need a feature:
> - with a realistic chance of being included and
> - hard enough that the person suggesting it doesn't simply implement it
> himself instead of requesting it

or there is simply nobody else who takes the time to implement it

> and
> - easy enough that a newbie can implement it.
>
> And the code should then be in a reasonable shape for being merged.

Helping to bring it into shape may be one of the easier pastimes of a
gateway person. (Can be done after mindnumbing day job.)

> IMHO that's nearly impossible.
>
> Realistically, offering a TODO item for a feature would require the one
> proposing it to do an amount of mentoring work that is not smaller than
> the amount of work he had to spend if implementing it himself.
>
> This might be worth it if you know for sure the person you are mentoring
> stays active after completion of the feature - but this assumption is
> too often not true.

Adding a feature is not just a matter of amount of work, it is also a
matter of motivation and inspiration. So, even if it remains a one-off
project, at least that feature came into life.

But besides these remarks I have to agree with your view, overall.
--
Stefan Richter
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