Encouraging patch reviewers

Encouraging patch reviewers

[Stan Shebs]

At the GCC summit we discussed patch review a bit, and one of the 
thoughts was that people who are not official maintainers of anything 
will often study a posted patch, and get a good idea of whether it's 
desirable, needs fixes, etc, but then maybe don't say anything because 
it won't be an "official" opinion. But it really does help to post such 
reviews, and quite likely a maintainer will simply rubberstamp it, 
saving time all around. So speaking up really helps, but in looking at 
gdb/MAINTAINERS I don't see anything that explicitly encourages people 
to post their own reviews - it just says "anyone [...] may suggest 
changes or ask questions". Does anybody think we need stronger phrasing 
here, and if so, how should it read?

Stan

Re: Encouraging patch reviewers

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:42:48AM -0700, Stan Shebs wrote:
> At the GCC summit we discussed patch review a bit, and one of the  
> thoughts was that people who are not official maintainers of anything  
> will often study a posted patch, and get a good idea of whether it's  
> desirable, needs fixes, etc, but then maybe don't say anything because it 
> won't be an "official" opinion. But it really does help to post such  
> reviews, and quite likely a maintainer will simply rubberstamp it, saving 
> time all around. So speaking up really helps, but in looking at  
> gdb/MAINTAINERS I don't see anything that explicitly encourages people to 
> post their own reviews - it just says "anyone [...] may suggest changes or 
> ask questions". Does anybody think we need stronger phrasing here, and if 
> so, how should it read?

I'd be happy with something stronger.

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz
CodeSourcery

Re: Encouraging patch reviewers

[Robert Dewar]

Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:42:48AM -0700, Stan Shebs wrote:
>> At the GCC summit we discussed patch review a bit, and one of the  
>> thoughts was that people who are not official maintainers of anything  
>> will often study a posted patch, and get a good idea of whether it's  
>> desirable, needs fixes, etc, but then maybe don't say anything because it 
>> won't be an "official" opinion. But it really does help to post such  
>> reviews, and quite likely a maintainer will simply rubberstamp it, saving 
>> time all around. So speaking up really helps, but in looking at  
>> gdb/MAINTAINERS I don't see anything that explicitly encourages people to 
>> post their own reviews - it just says "anyone [...] may suggest changes or 
>> ask questions". Does anybody think we need stronger phrasing here, and if 
>> so, how should it read?
> 
> I'd be happy with something stronger.

  I agree, we want to take advantage of anyone willing to put in this
  useful work, we don't want them to refrain because they are concerned
  that it is not appropriate, or they will be stepping on someones toes.
>