Ticket #14796 (pike): please commit

[Florian Ebeling]

> > There are two few committers for dports/ and REALLY very few committers
> for base/ - I think we should be more liberal in allowing new committers,
> being ever mindful of the fact that source control always means you can back
> things out (and, as we grow, I think it's also important to be flexible
> about that during/because of any dispute).
> >
>
>  We have tried over the last year to really loosen up the committer
> requirements, solicit new committers, etc. We've called a number of times
> for new submitter applications and basically take anybody who has shown any
> sort of commitment or experience with MacPorts. So I'll say it once more: if
> you're interested in being a macports committer, please just ask:
> http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/wiki/NewCommittersGuide.

I would apply for this but I find the wording in the guide quite
disheartening. "Prove track record" etc. For me macports is
interesting, because I am a programmer, work with open source
packages, and don't fancy to do a simply "make install" in the middle
of nowhere and then are not able to get rid of the leftovers of my
experiments. That's where a portfile comes quite handy. And when I'm
at it and find I had to uprade an existing port in the process, then
I'm happy to share these results with the community. When this then
means I file a bug which is being ignored for 6 weeks then I don't do
this again, I guess. Just add more committers, and also offer commit
right where you see it fit. There is a bell curve of committers, and
there are outstanding ones, the majority, and bad ones, and one could
probably also revoke this right after a warning, if it doesn't work
out. But people also start slowly and unimpressive, and you probably
dont want to discourage them further.

macports is a project which needs a lot of people who do a
housekeeping, rather boring kind of job, maintaining the ports and
keep them up to date. So there should probably not too much ceremony
around this process of commit rights either. It's just not the kind of
project which will solve world peace and offers fulfillment in your
life, but it can be a very handy tool for users, if it achieves to
leverage all the small effeorts of the many.

Florian

-- 
Florian Ebeling
florian.ebeling at gmail.com