On 19 May 2011 06:34, Phil Steitz <phil.ste...@gmail.com> wrote: > On 5/18/11 9:36 PM, Henri Yandell wrote: >> The following rule seems unnecessary to me: >> >> http://wiki.apache.org/commons/CommonsEtiquette#Commons_Etiquette >> >> "each committer who commits to a component must add their name to the >> STATUS file" (or pom.xml) >> >> I've never done this, have touched every component (give or take a >> component or two) and have never had negative feedback*. Either >> everyone's being very polite or it's not actually a necessary piece of >> etiquette :) > > Well, now that you mention it, your wanton pillaging has left a > trail of devastation and fear in the hearts of Commoners across the > realm - he he. > > Seriously, I think that as stated, the rule is obsolete; but the > spirit of it is good. When that was originally written, components > were all independently built using Ant, sites were, lets just say > "diverse," mostly built using Anakia, and most of what people worked > on was actual code internal to the components. So when you started > committing to a component, that meant you were going to really get > into its code and join the little subcommunity that was working on > it. You signaled that by adding yourself to the STATUS file. > > Partly because we have added complexity and inter-dependency to the > build and site generation processes, partly because people have > shown willingness and interest in doing these things, we now have a > decent incidence of people "touching" components without really > jumping in to the code that deeply. I think that is a *good thing* > as it helps keep the code and sites in better shape. > > I still think it is a good idea for us to keep something like a > STATUS file up to date indicating who the active committers are for > each component. I am not sure, honestly, if the pom.xml team list > is the right place for this, though; as it is more > externally-facing, gets published as part of releases, etc. The > current poms are also full of references to people who have not > contributed in quite a while. The value of having a team list that > committers add themselves to and drop off of is that adding oneself > is a statement of real interest in the component and willingness to > help move it forward. There are some old Wiki pages somewhere where > we started to track this kind of thing; but IMO the component's svn > is a better place. > > So bottom line is I think the rule should stand with s/commits to a > component/makes a nontrivial change to a component/ and s/STATUS > file (or pom.xml)/not sure, maybe stay with pom/ > I also think we agree to take ourselves off of the lists when we are > no longer contributing or seriously thinking about it - similar to > the unwritten rule about taking yourself off a PMC.
I think it's reasonable for developers to add their own name (if they wish) to the pom if they have made a non-trivial contribution to the component. The list of developers and contributors will of course grow over time. I see the pom as being a way of recognising developers and contributors (rather than the deprecated @author tags) so it's important that the list is historic, not just current. If we really need to record who is currently working on a component (generally that's obvious from SVN commits and the dev list), then I agree that a STATUS file or similar would be better than the Wiki. But I'm not sure it's essential. How do names get removed when they are no longer active? > Phil >> Hen >> >> [A slight lie; I once committed a doap file to Tapestry and got yelled >> at, but that wasn't Commons] >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@commons.apache.org >> For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@commons.apache.org >> >> > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@commons.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@commons.apache.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@commons.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@commons.apache.org
