Re: commit fests

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 12:01 PM, Greg Smith <greg(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> I think it's completely reasonable to say that someone could organize
> pgsql-rrreviewers (as an initial working area, maybe another list
> eventually) for periodic ReviewFest during periods where those patches won't
> be considered for commit, such as beta. Now that most patch submitters have
> gotten used to doing a matching bit of peer review, the pool of people to do
> the reviews is there without having to pull anyone else into that. I could
> even see the rrreviewers list or another one split out of it grow into a
> somewhat gentler place for people to ask for help with their patch
> development too--just ban all the grumpy people from there (I'll unsubscribe
> myself). The important thing is that everyone would need to careful to
> respect not letting that spill over onto this list during the periods there
> is no official CommitFest going on, or there will be a net increase in said
> grumpy people.

I kind of like the ideal of a pgsql-fledgling-hackers list (that's
intended to describe the charter, not that we'd necessarily call it
that) as a space for people to ask novice development questions (as
opposed to novice user questions).

I'm less certain I like the idea that some part of patch review is
going to happen off of pgsql-hackers. If people like Tom, Bruce,
Peter, and Heikki are not reading the list where this review is
happening (whether it's pgsql-rrreviewers, pgsql-fledgling-hackers, or
otherwise), it may not actually be very successful in helping people
move their patches forward. Issues that are discussed and resolved in
that forum will very possibly get brought up again on -hackers and
reach a different conclusion the second time around. Now if people
are OK with that, maybe it's OK: but I have a feeling that could be
even more frustrating than the system we have now.

I am in favor of having a ReviewFest if we go too long without being
able to have a CommitFest, but I would personally prefer to see it
happen on -hackers. I wouldn't argue for scheduling a ReviewFest as
soon as March, because I think we really do need to allow some time
and resources for resolving open issues, and I think having another
CommitFest so soon will distract from that. But later on in the
release cycle, I think it would make sense - the work that can be done
by people other than Tom and Bruce and Peter and whoever the other big
guns are is going to be mostly done by then. I suspect that a
ReviewFest in, say, May would give us a useful jump on 9.1 development
without having much impact on getting 9.0 out the door.

...Robert