Contribution and Accepted Practice

[Chris Monson]

I have been starting to make attempts to contribute to this project.  In 
so doing, I have discovered that I have a lot of questions.  I tried to 
get the list FAQ, but it said it was empty, so please forgive me if this 
information is located elsewhere.  I will happily take any pointers to 
documentation instead of responses to my questions.

I submitted a patch to allow for an IPLookups directive last week, got 
some feedback, and have submitted a new patch.  My question is this: 
when does a patch become "golden"?  Is there a BDFL for Apache like 
there is for Python and Linux?  I ask this not because I really want my 
patch to get in (although that would be cool, I really want what's best 
for the project) but because I am curious.

Also, when posting issues, like a previous post of mine about a possible 
infinite loop in mod_proxy, what is the best way to go about it?  I see 
that tools like gdb and strace are favored, and I am learning to use 
them with Apache, but I am admittedly a novice in this area.  I don't 
want to piss people off, but I do want to find out how to go about 
finding and fixing Apache issues.  Sometimes something is easily 
reproduced and would be better addressed by someone familiar with this 
process (rather than waiting for me to bungle it).  On some mailing 
lists, accomplishing both goals simultaneously is something of a 
balancing act.  This list feels fairly tame, however, so I guess I'm 
just asking whether that impression is correct.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings.  I promise not to be 
high-maintenance in the future. ;-)

C