Re: commitfest.postgresql.org is no longer fit for purpose

On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 2:30 PM Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> The original intent of CommitFests, and of commitfest.postgresql.org
> by extension, was to provide a place where patches could be registered
> to indicate that they needed to be reviewed, thus enabling patch
> authors and patch reviewers to find each other in a reasonably
> efficient way. I don't think it's working any more. I spent a good
> deal of time going through the CommitFest this week, and I didn't get
> through a very large percentage of it, and what I found is that the
> status of the patches registered there is often much messier than can
> be captured by a simple "Needs Review" or "Waiting on Author," and the
> number of patches that are actually in need of review is not all that
> large. For example, there are:
>
> - patches parked there by a committer who will almost certainly do
> something about them after we branch
> - patches parked there by a committer who probably won't do something
> about them after we branch, but maybe they will, or maybe somebody
> else will, and anyway this way we at least run CI

-- snip --

> So, our CommitFest application has turned into a patch tracker. IMHO,
> patch trackers intrinsically tend to suck, because they fill up with
> garbage that nobody cares about, and nobody wants to do the colossal
> amount of work that it takes to maintain them. But our patch tracker
> sucks MORE, because it's not even intended to BE a general-purpose
> patch tracker.

I was reflecting on why a general purpose patch tracker sounded
appealing to me, and I realized that, at least at this time of year, I
have a few patches that really count as "waiting on author" that I
know I need to do additional work on before they need more review but
which aren't currently my top priority. I should probably simply
withdraw and re-register them. My justification was that I'll lose
them if I don't keep them in the commitfest app. But, I could just,
you know, save them somewhere myself instead of polluting the
commitfest app with them. I don't know if others are in this
situation. Anyway, I'm definitely currently guilty of parking.

- Melanie