On Sun, Oct 13, 2024, 10:31 AM Jarek Potiuk <ja...@potiuk.com> wrote:
> > > a) where is the repo in the first place? > b) do I know the technology stack ? > c) how do I build the project ? > d) how do I unit test it ? > e) how do I make sure things get deployed in a way the whole ASF is not > impacted heavily (this one is a REALLY big blocker) ? > f) is there a good "contributing guide" I can follow > g) whom can I ask if I have a question / am stuck? > h) can I be sure to get answers quickly when I ask for help (because > otherwise I might get quickly discouraged) ? > These are the right questions. We should start working towards answering them prominently on the reporter site. Notably almost every time this comes up - which is roughly every other month - I provide links to #1. Then someone steps up and fixes the immediate problem and it's resolved for another month or so, so people stop thinking about it > > All that is usually maintained when you have a project when there are many > regularly engaged people and they "want" to get more contributions. But > when it comes to such infrastructure projects - at some point they reach a > "stable" state where problems happen rarely (which is always the case when > such a tool is generally doing its job well), and the a) - h) obstacles > make people not even think they could volunteer and help. > Except that every single time this comes up i beg people to volunteer and help. Here's me, going that again. The underlying problem here is that people expect this to be a "supported" service and it's just not. It never has been. > And this is where Rich's comment is very right "we should get more people > involved regularly" - but it does not look like we have a good idea on how > to do it and most importantly people who "know" about the tools do not do > it proactively. Thinking that it will "just happen if we complain we need > it, is a bit of a magic way of thinking. > Yep. This right here. > > > If you ask me - this is the absolutely most important task for a person > that we hire as the "tools" person. ... > Their role should not be to fix > things, but organize the work and make sure they are engaging and actively > reaching and finding creative ways of making ASF people contribute. > This is a hugely important perspective and we should be sure that it gets injected into the discussion of that position. I don't think this point has been made. And that is a skill that isn't necessary going to be part of the skill set of a tools engineer.
