A few months back when I announced in one of our planning updates
that we were freezing the DIP queue to focus on stabilization, I
noted that the DIP process was going to get an overhaul. I've
since learned that this message didn't stick, so I'll paste here
what I said then.
---
The DIP process is getting a long-needed overhaul. Over time,
I've had feedback from people who have authored DIPs and those
who decided not to. There are a number of different opinions
about how things can change, but there are some common themes
among them.
I'll write in more detail about this later, but there are a few
major goals I have with the overhaul:
* reduce the burden on the author
* reduce the amount of time a submitted DIP is in review
* establish support for fleshing out ideas before a DIP is even
written
* establish support for developing initial DIP drafts before they
are submitted
Previously, I'd always considered development of the DIP separate
from the DIP "process", which I saw as beginning with the
submission of a pull request. In reality, the process begins even
before an author opens an editor to start typing. I hope that by
recognizing that, and by providing support for discussing ideas
and writing the DIP, we'll foster an environment that still
maintains a relatively high bar for DIPs that get submitted, but
also creates a filter such that potential DIP authors can be more
confident that they aren't wasting their time once they get to
the development stage. By the time they get there, they'll have
no doubt if it's an idea worth pursuing.
---
I'm getting ready to open things up again. The new process is
going to be much, much looser than before. I'll have all the
details in the announcement when we reopen, and I should be able
to give you a general timeframe after our planning session
tomorrow.
I'm making this pre-announcement announcement now so that any
authors with a DIP frozen in the PR queue can have a heads up.
We'll need to treat these somewhat differently than new DIPs, but
we'll be ready to get moving on them when the author is. It's
entirely on the author's schedule, not ours.
And if any of you are thinking about submitting a new DIP, I ask
you to start thinking about the details, but don't start writing
it just yet. Once the new process is open, you won't have to sit
and write it in isolation with no feedback from Walter or Atila.
You'll be able to get feedback early from both them and the
community, so you can know very early on if it's something you're
willing to pursue, and you'll hopefully have a good bit of help
to get it developed.
The process as it existed had a high bar with the intention of
encouraging the production of quality DIPs and discouraging
frivolous proposals. In practice, that high bar was a high
barrier to entry and ended up discouraging even good proposals.
I'm optimistic that the new process will lower the barrier to
entry and still encourage quality proposals.
And by "quality" I'm not referring to the quality of the DIP's
language. In the new process, the focus will be entirely on the
details of the proposal and not on the language in which they're
presented. I'm happy to clean that up myself once a proposal is
accepted.
Just wanted to put out a heads up. More to come!
