❦ 21 January 2022 09:51 -05, M. Zhou:
> I'd rather propose choice C. Because I to some extent understand
> both sides who support either A or B. I maintain bulky C++ packages,
> and I also had a little experience reviewing packages on behalf of
> ftp-team.
I didn't comment at first because I thought someone else would raise the
idea. But it seems people still like the idea of a NEW queue. Not me.
The NEW queue is a hindrance. I have stopped contributing to Python
stuff for this reason. Packaging something can take weeks because you
need to upload one package, wait for it to be reviewed, then package the
next one, etc. You could upload many packages at once, but it makes
testing and building more difficult. New contributors may just give up
by the time their first package is accepted. I think we have many
unmaintained packages for this reason (no real stats on my side, but
when a package is several versions late, it's usually a sponsored upload
or one of my packages).
I would propose that there should be a reputation system. You can get
points by uploading stuff without issues and lose them if there are
errors. If you have enough points, you can spend them to skip the check.
But someone would have to implement it and the team being understaffed
for whatever reason (and maybe not convinced by this system), I know
this won't be done (we don't have PPA because FTP team wants to
implement it but no time, we don't have autosigned packages because
nobody has time to implement it, etc).
For me, the copyright check is just a bad excuse. People upload
non-distributable stuff everywhere and it seems the world continue to go
round. What amount of non-distributable packages is stopped by the NEW
queue?
I think we should forego the NEW queue. If people want to check
packages, they can do it once they are in unstable with regular bugs.
Current checks are partly done by Lintian and I suppose people could
watch new Lintian warnings and detect bad packages quickly. This could
be done when src is not NEW as a test. People could loose their upload
rights if they are caught abusing the system (and get DM rights for some
selected packages instead). This could be opt-in if people find this
idea offensive.
--
Avoid temporary variables.
- The Elements of Programming Style (Kernighan & Plauger)
