Re: build breakages and translators

[Christian Rose <menthos menthos com>]

mån 2003-03-10 klockan 12.05 skrev Tino Meinen:
> > The release-team has noticed that some of the GNOME CVS build breakages have
> > been caused by translators who have added or removed languages. 
> > 
> > In general, people should always check that a module builds before checking
> > their changes into cvs. This is even more important for translators who
> > might not have so much experience with cvs or build files.
>
> The policy for translators is to check if their po file passes the
> msgfmt test.
> I think it's too much to *demand* for translators to be able to compile
> every single module.
> You could always ask though.

Agreed.


> As long as it stays with 'some build breakages'. I don't think it's a
> big problem, and I don't think it's getting worse.
> 'Some' of the other breakages have been caused by developers, and these
> people are even supposed to be experienced.
> If a build breaks because of a translators' commit, I guess the problem
> will not be so severe that it can not be easily solved.

The policy is to keep the cvs modules buildable at all times, so that
other development can continue, and so that people can try it out and
report bugs. In the past, longer breakages in cvs happened, which in
many cases had devastating effects, as it blocked all other development
and testing. That's why the new policy specifies that everything should
always be kept buildable in cvs.

So whether the breakage is minor or major or whether a translator or
another developer caused it is probably largely irrelevant -- a build
breakage blocks other people's work and some people will have to stop
their other work and instead spend their time going and finding out why
it broke and possibly fix it. We should avoid this in every case, and
we're all in the same boat here, and equally responsible for making sure
it doesn't happen.


Christian