Re: [Gimp-developer] contribution processes...

[gg <gg catking net>]

On 05/13/12 08:40, gfxuser wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I also read your stab. First of all, I'm a friend of acting ordered and
> high code quality, too.
> Some thoughts of mine:
> 1. Yet I haven't found out whether this draft is for 'interaction design
> patches' (whatever this could mean) or for code patches at all. What
> exactly do you mean?
> 2. The sentence ' There are quite a few (un)written requirements this
> contribution has to adhere to.' is not necessary. Either the
> requirements count and thus are written or not.
> 3. I read 'for new contributors', so I feel addressed. But then there is
> a list of few requirements a newbie can hardly fulfill. In fact, they
> are important as they try to achieve high quality software. If I was in
> the shoes of the experienced GIMPs team I would have written the same.
> But really, as you noticed yourse lf: 'Each one counts and could form a
> barrier of entry'. IIRC GIMP development has a severe lack of
> developers. Why then build the barriers higher? Softening the
> aforementioned requirements with the line 'It has not to be perfect' is
> IMHO too less. However, after reading the stab my first thought was
> 'They expect perfect patches'. I suggest to add a line, that, where and
> when contributors can post and discuss their code for review, before
> it's finally contributed as a patch. There are many possibilities
> (mailing lists, IRC, wiki, mail, Bugzilla ...) - to the GIMP team these
> informations are clear, but not to new people. And of course,
> contributors questions wait for answers. Lately I tried to learn from
> the GSoC students questions and asked for answers in the mailing list
> (see
> https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gimp-developer-list/2012-March/msg00193.html).
> I've got no answer yet for two months. So I went to IRC and tried to
> learn from the discussions there. The guys there are friendly, but yet I
> picked up some little pieces, which have yet to be merged to the big
> picture. This may take a while. I don't know whether everybody has
> enough patience.
> Another dawn of hope is the GEGL porting matrix. AFAIK most of GIMP is
> ported to GEGL, but there are still some open 'easy to do' tasks - the
> best start for beginners. The matrix starts with the chapter 'How to
> port' - which is empty. How is a beginner supposed to port anything? It
> would also be helpful if somebody regularly concludes some discussions
> of general interest on IRC or the devlist and maintains an up-to-date
> list in the wiki.
> Don't get me wrong: my lines may sound like beefing, but I'm meaning
> them constructive. What I'm trying to say is: for newbies it's hard to
> get grips. GIMP team, please, add some words in Peters stab where they
> find all necessary information to contribute on a single point (the
> wiki) and keep these sources complete and up-to-date.
> 4. What will happen to the GIMP UI brainstorm? Will it be replaced by
> this process? If not, how will a contributor there ever know whether
> his/her proposal is accepted or not? AFAIK proposals end in team reviews
> - and then? Getting this information lets him/her start to implement
> this proposal or avoid needless efforts.
>
> Many lines for a Sunday morning... Grab a properly chilled beverage and
> enjoy ;-) and keep on your good work.
>
> Best regards,
>
> grafxuser

I agree with a lot of this. My impression on reading the 'first stab' 
was that is was more an attempt to stop people "interfering" than to 
encourage potential contributors to get involved in Gimp.

Indeed I found 'brainstorm' to be similar. It made it a lot of work to 
make a suggestion and , while a mockup can be a good means of presenting 
something in some cases, the requirement that the visual be the only 
acceptable form of submission and no verbal description was possible, 
again seems like raising barriers.

/gg