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List:       gentoo-dev
Subject:    Re: [gentoo-dev] RFI: A better workflow for github pull requests
From:       Andrew Savchenko <bircoph () gentoo ! org>
Date:       2015-09-13 21:22:20
Message-ID: 20150914002220.55691ea41e5905518b294c86 () gentoo ! org
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On Sun, 13 Sep 2015 20:27:32 +0200 Michał Górny wrote:
> Dnia 2015-09-13, o godz. 20:56:07
> Andrew Savchenko <bircoph@gentoo.org> napisał(a):
> 
> > On Sat, 12 Sep 2015 21:12:25 +0200 Michał Górny wrote:
> > > Hello, everyone.
> > > 
> > > The current workflow for handling github pull requests is at least
> > > suboptimal. Handling pull requests takes a fair effort from the few
> > > developers contributing there, and the progress is often stalled by
> > > package maintainers which are either unresponsive or not registered on
> > > github at all. That's why I'd like to get your ideas on how we could
> > > improve the workflow.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Current workflow
> > > ================
> > > 
> > > Let's summarize the current workflow first. Right now, there's a few
> > > Gentoo developers who actively monitor pull requests on gentoo/gentoo
> > > repository. Those developers review incoming pull requests and help
> > > submitters get their contributions in shape. Some of those developers
> > > also try to 'CC' (@-mention) package maintainers to get their attention
> > > on the pull request.
> > > 
> > > Sadly, @-mentioning sucks for a few reasons:
> > > 
> > > 1. Many of the Gentoo developers have different nicknames on GitHub.
> > > Some developers don't even set their real names which makes them even
> > > harder to find.
> > > 
> > > 2. Teams can be created only by repository 'owners' (which pretty much
> > > is equivalent of Infra). Which practically means I'm the only person
> > > migrating teams (projects, herds) to GitHub.
> > > 
> > > 3. GitHub notifications are not very reliable. Some developers get only
> > > some of them via mail, some don't. And some simply don't care.
> > > 
> > > 4. Some developers openly refuse to work with contributors via GitHub.
> > > Proxying them manually is not really productive.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Potential solution: bi-dir github <=> bugzilla integration
> > > ==========================================================
> > > 
> > > My current idea would be pretty much that:
> > > 
> > > 1. a new dedicated Gentoo bug would be automatically created for every
> > > pull request on github,
> > > 
> > > 2. all comments from github would be automatically copied to bugzie.
> > > All bugzie comments would be automatically copied to github,
> > > 
> > > 3. resolving the bug would automatically close the relevant pull
> > > request.
> > > 
> > > This way, all pull requests can be assigned to package maintainers in
> > > Bugzilla without having to resort to GitHub user or team names. All
> > > involved parties would get more reliable Bugzilla notification mails.
> > > They could choose to either use the provided URLs to discuss the pull
> > > request on GitHub, or discuss it directly on Bugzilla, whichever is
> > > more convenient to them.
> > > 
> > > The additional Bugzilla load should be manageable, though we may want
> > > to employ some kind of rate limiting in case someone though it'd funny
> > > to spam our bugzilla via spamming github.
> > > 
> > > Problems:
> > > 
> > > - handling line comments (probably a Bugzie comment with quoted code
> > >   snippet),
> > > 
> > > - handling comment edits and removals,
> > > 
> > > - some people will get double mail for each comment,
> > > 
> > > - extra bugs for existing issues (we shouldn't really try to reuse
> > >   existing bugs for this).
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > What are your thoughts? Any other proposals?
> > 
> > Gentoo workflow should not depend on a proprietary tools like
> > github issue tracker and github pull requests.
> 
> Thank you for your insightful comment. That's very helpful. Really,
> thank you a lot. Gentoo would be much worse without such helpful
> comments. Why do we need community at all, when one developer with his
> helpful comments can provide all there is ever needed by the distro.
 
Please don't mix need in the community with tight integration with
proprietary solutions leading to a hard dependency, loss of freedom
and independence.

Best regards,
Andrew Savchenko

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