Re: Tinderbox.

[Michael Meeks <michael ximian com>]

Hi Maciej,

On 12 Mar 2001, Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
> When someone committed a needed build fix to a module I maintain or
> work on without going through some official process, I do not get
> angry, I would _thank_ them for doing what should be my
> responsibility as maintainer.

	I try to thank people for their fixes, I am happy to have
other people using the software, I feel mortified if I / others commit
stuff that breaks other people's build - I would hope it is very much
the exception rather than the rule.

> And if their fix was not quite right in all dimensions, I would take
> it as my responsibility to fix it up as the penalty for checking in
> something that breaks the build or letting through another patch
> that does.

	It is hard to do this if people silently commit supposed
'build fixes' to modules you are responsible for without sending you
mail or patches - I have no problem with people committed such fixes
within reason, indeed I'm happy about it - I just request that they
send patches.

> I will go so far as to say something perhaps mildly heretical, that
> keeping things compiling should supersede maintainerly authority.

	I disagree, but then I would. I like to read every line of
code that goes into things I'm responsible for. This is by no means
foolproof ( obviously :-), but at least the buck stops somewhere. I
also suspect that if someone committed a build fix for some obscure
platform to Nautilus without going through your review process during
the current freeze, that people would not be ecstaticly happy and
grateful.

	I also feel that HEAD is primarily a place for developers to
collaberate and cluster their development at high speed. I really
think people who are not concerned with the development of a certain
module should not be using CVS HEAD. The last_build tag is a good
compromise though I think.

> All that being said, when I personally commit build fixes for
> Bonobo, I always send you the patch afterwards as you have
> requested, and I would hope others do so as well.

	And I'm grateful for your fixes, thank you.

> I hope you find that to be OK behavior.

	I have no problems with your behaviour :-) This was just a
vague comment, given a minority of bad experiences I have had with
people using tinderbox in the past.

	I maintain that a tinderbox build against every branch and
every module is (clearly) not appropriate, it should be used as a tool
by those developing the software.

	Regards,

		Michael.

-- 
 mmeeks gnu org  <><, Pseudo Engineer, itinerant idiot


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