Re: [Gdbheads] A small patch case study, -file-list-exec-source-files

Joel Brobecker
2004-03-25T05:59:28Z

> I completely agree with Ian here. So the question is,
> is patch review the most important aspect of being a GNU GDB maintainer?
>
> How many GDB maintainers would answer yes to this?

GDB is a volunteer work!

If you keep insisting that a maintainer have to review patches within a
given timeframe and that they should step down if they can't, then I
think we're going to lose a lot of maintainers. Will GDB really be
better off? I think not.

I think you're looking at the wrong solution. The real solution,
according to me, is not to push away good maintainers that have only so
much time, but to help the group of maintainers to act as a team.
When one maintainer is too busy, then the rest of the team should be
allowed to step up and help the busy maintainer by reviewing patches
and answering emails in his place. The real problem is that GDB
currently has bottlenecks, and that's the issue that needs solving,
one way or the other.

I'm only a contributor, but I have barely enough time to followup
on the review of my own patches. I have messages from some maintainers
following up on my own messages that I need to answer and have been
sitting in mail mailbox for weeks. How can I, a fairly regular
contributor, ever ask/force volunteers maintainers to do any more than
they are already doing?

--
Joel