On 29 June 2010 01:39, Ian Lance Taylor <i...@google.com> wrote:
>
> Manu, I have no problem supporting you in implementing a Bugzilla
> upgrade if you are still interested.

I won't have time before September for sure, most probably early October.

Still, I don't understand why a shell account is required to start
working on this. From what I understand, the scripts that need
conversion are not secret, so anyone can work on them. The bugzilla
customizations can be accessed with anonymous cvs, so whatever custom
changes we have made, they are accessible anonymously and they can be
ported to a new local bugzilla installation. In any case, patches
against a pristine bugzilla installation would need review. I am not
sure if copyright assignment is needed for all this. If so, then it
depends whether NightStrike would agree to sign papers for the FSF
with his real name. But...

NightStrike, even just starting a wiki page and making a list of
everything that needs adjusting and suggestions on how to implement
the changes would help incredibly whoever ends up committing the
changes. Right now, I wouldn't know where to start!

This whole issue has focussed in a little problem about the final step
(installing bugzilla in sourceware.org), whereas there is so much work
to do before reaching that step, that probably the person that starts
this work won't be the same that finally installs the new bugzilla
version. Take the opportunity that people are paying attention right
now and collect all the information that would be needed for this.
Then you will know if you need a shell account, a cvs account, a
copyright or just someone else to do that part on your behalf (I will
be willing to review and commit stuff).

Yes, I know that contributing to GCC seems sometimes like a fight and
finding the right loop-hole to achieve what you want. And sometimes,
you lose. On the other hand, the lack of a strong leadership means
that many times despite all the resistance and obstacles, you can find
a way to get done stuff if you manage to find the correct way to do it
(either by means of technical or social engineering, with the latter
being sometimes more important than the former) because there is not a
single person with the power to say no if you manage to convince
enough people. It is a matter of finding what is the root cause for
the resistance and approaching the problem in a way that overcomes
this root cause, while still producing the desired outcome (or a good
approximation as possible).

Personally, I don't give a fig what your real name is. I don't support
giving you (or anyone without a paper trail) shell access to
sourceware.org, but I don't think this is needed to contribute to GCC.
There is such a long list of useful stuff to be done that I could keep
a horde of anonymous contributors busy for years.

Manuel.

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