[Openvpn-devel] IRC & Community...

[Timothe Litt]

http://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/IrcMeetings says:

"​Complete logs <http://secure-computing.net/logs/%23openvpn-devel.log> (updated every 3 hours) of the openvpn-devel channel are also available".

the IRC channel is "very active."


So either the meetings don't happen, or the logs aren't posted.

I have one item for discussion*:
http://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/DeveloperDocumentation



Here is the basis for my concern:

The last entry at that URL is Tue Dec 03 2013. Looks like the logger is broken, as I'm told that The meeting logs of the 'usually weekly meetings' seem to be every 3-6 months, not weeks. *suggests that community patches are welcome. I'm not getting that impression. This isn't the first open source project I've been involved with; I do understand the dynamics. There appear to be quite a few patches listed on http://community.openvpn.net/openvpn/wiki/Patches that have been "under review" for months to over a year. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the one I sent to this list 3 days ago (to close a 2-year old ticket) got no response (and isn't on the 'under review' list). The response to the ticket said 'patch welcome'. (I provided V1 via Trac two weeks ago, and an enhanced version via this list 3 days ago. It wasn't clear which mechanism to

use.)


Or at least, promptly discussed.


e-mail chain was that they had been merged.


time zones.

A couple of suggestions:


reasonable timeframe, where "ack" means:
a) someone says "saw it, thanks" and either:
i) ACKs (feature or final)
ii) NAKs

e.g. "I will test later this week" or "you need to address these issues", or
"a review period has started that will end on (date)" (See (c,d))
iv) asks someone else to screen for disposition
b) it gets listed on the wiki as 'under review'

stops the clock and discussion continues until consensus is reached.


2) The wiki patch status page should have a couple of additional fields:
a) Dates: original submission & last update
b) Status (waiting for team update, waiting for submitter update/response,
needs testing on platform x, review open until (date), etc..)

not being reviewed by the project.


newest first, sometimes oldest first.

4) The status page needs to be kept up-to-date.


non-core developer should do.




the project much help from "the community".

FWIW.

--
Timothe Litt
ACM Distinguished Engineer
--------------------------
This communication may not represent the ACM or my employer's views,
if any, on the matters discussed.

Yet work from the core developers seems to get ACK'd and applied in a day or two. I also looked at a couple of 'Rejected' patches, and to my surprise saw that the end of their So it's quite difficult for an outsider to determine whether it's worth contributing; a black hole is not welcoming...neither is inability to look at the IRC log. Especially for those of us in other 1) There should be a commitment to ack (not necessarily ACK) community patches within a iii) indicates what action is required and who needs to do it for progress to occur c) under normal circumstances (not in crisis mode, patch not massive) a NAK, ACK, or discussion will happen within a fixed time period. I've worked on several busy projects where a 14-day rule exists: no objection in 14 days automatically accepts a proposal. Any objection or concern d) under abnormal circumstances, an extension of time for review is defined and posted. e) there will be a definite response (along the lines of (1a i-iii)) at the end of the review period. It's one thing if the submitter drops a submission; it's something else if it's 3) The date column on the status page seems to be semi-random order; sometimes 5) You need to clarify whether you want community patches submitted on Trac tickets, or to the mailing list. More documents point at the list than Trac, but it's not clear what a The volume of submissions doesn't seem to be so large as to make adopting these suggestions impractical - assuming that community submissions are actually wanted. As a newcomer, my impression is that "the words say 'yes', but the actions say 'no'". I don't think that's a good thing... I know that everyone is busy and most have 'real' jobs. And it's natural to respond quickly to people you know. But the current culture of 'it's OK to leave submissions in limbo for months' won't get

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