Re: [RFC] MAINTAINERS service, was: Re: alphabetic ordering of MAINTAINERS

Krzysztof Halasa
2008-07-07T22:38:15Z

Stefan Richter <stefanr@s5r6.in-berlin.de> writes:

>> Unfortunately we can't enforce that. People are working with old
>> kernels (think of heavily-modified vendor trees), people send patches
>> against old kernels, and we accept such patches (if it makes sense,
>> of course).
>
> If I get such patches and can apply them without /very/ much work, I
> gladly take them of course too.
>
> But these are not the people anyway to which this maintainers lookup
> service would be targeted to.

They, too. Why not?

> As I see it, the people who want such a
> service are those who frequently send patches for various different
> areas of the kernel.

Sure, they too.

> (OTOH, occasional posters who don't even check if their patch would
> apply to a newer kernel too before they post it will probably also
> have less interest in figuring out the 100% optimum To: and Cc: list
> for their submission.

And less skills. Though they would manage a single patch submission
address I guess.

> A "tell me a list of mail addresses; whatever
> you give me, I am not really interested in the particulars" service
> would not be an appropriate tool for these people.)

I think it would. Why not?

> Not at all. These are the forums where patches can be discussed in
> more detail because knowledgeable people are subscribed there. You
> also have archives which you can query for patch postings and their
> discussions.

Same here, except that it would be easier = "faster" and/or
"possible". "Faster" for regular kernel contributors and "possible"
for many occasional ones.

> What you don't get is of course a unified "look and feel". Some list
> archives are crap, some lists are subscriber-only, some kernel areas
> are not covered by a special list.

Not the most important points IMHO but yes, that too.

> But the latter problem won't
> really go away with the proposed maintainers lookup service.

Well, I think it should. Why not?
I don't say we replace mailing lists, far from it.
I expect mailing lists to be subscribed to the service.

Come on, the theory looks good but the thing needs to be created and
_that_ may be the weak spot :-)
--
Krzysztof Halasa