Re: Feature proposal process?

[Tristan Van Berkom <tvb gnome org>]

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 5:03 AM, Dave Neary <dneary free fr> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> According to the calendar, with the upcoming 3.8 release, we will soon be in
> feature proposal again.

For what it's worth, "Feature Proposals" in the open doesn't really work as
a concept.

GNOME is comprised of hundreds of modules, much of the software is
getting new features every release cycle.

We've added a lot of new features to Evolution Data Server in 3.8 for example,
should we have to discuss this with all of GNOME ? I really don't think that
unrelated module maintainers would have been interested in discussing that.

So, I'm perfectly comfortable in trusting that the maintainer(s) of said module
is responsible enough to know where to draw the line in accepting/refusing
new features.

I'm sure the same goes for any module, like GNOME Shell for example,
has maintainers, and features should be proposed and discussed with
those maintainers just like any module in GNOME.

I do miss module proposals though, that part of the release cycle was
an integral part in bringing many maintainers and contributors together
in meaningful discussion every year, despite the "bike shed" nay sayers
opinions, module proposals helped to bring unification to our projects.

> I was recently asked how to propose a feature for GNOME, and my first
> instinct was to point them to https://live.gnome.org/ReleasePlanning - the
> "Proposing new modules" page is out of date, and has not been updated with
> the process for feature proposal.
>
> I did find https://live.gnome.org/ThreePointNine/Features but this page
> contains instructions warning people against modifying it, and provides no
> indication of where the features are being discussed.
>
> So I looked through the archives of foundation-list, release-team and
> desktop-devel-list for last September and October to see where the
> discussions for 3.8 feature additions (listed here:
> https://live.gnome.org/ThreePointSeven/Features) happened. Unfortunately, I
> did not find any discussions, except one contentious one related to fallback
> mode which mclasen brought to d-d-l.

This is obviously the kind of discussion we would have had, with or without
the "Feature Proposals". As it's one detail that effects many modules, it
needs to be discussed in the open (as should any detail that might effect
compatibility across multiple modules).

> I know that there were discussions about this around the 2.28/2.30 timeframe
> but I have not found the discussions with an (admittedly brief) search.
>
> Can someone point me to where discussion of new features happens, please,
> and help me help this person propose a new feature?

I would suggest that you address the maintainers of the module(s) for which
this new feature would relate to, test the waters and see if they would agree
to accept contributions to implement such a feature.

Cheers,
       -Tristan