Re: gnu-patches back log

[Leo Famulari <leo@famulari.name>]

On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 06:25:31AM +0000, Pjotr Prins wrote:
> Now we have debbugs we can see there is a building back-log:
> 
>   https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/pkgreport.cgi?package=guix-patches;max-bugs=100;base-order=1;bug-rev=1
> 
> A patch like this one
> 
>   https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=25725
> 
> has been two weeks without comment. I think we should not leave patches without
> feedback longer than one week - even 3 days, to be honest. It is the surest way
> to kill enthusiasm.
> 
> To move forward with Guix and to recognise the effort new submitters
> put in I would like to ask *all* reviewers to pick an outstanding
> patch on a regular basis. If reviewers split the work it should be doable.

We all know that patch review is important. But it's also real work, and
just as hard as writing patches in many cases. I think we all do it when
we find the motivation. 

> Would it be an idea to send out weekly E-mails with patches that had
> no attention to a select list of reviewers? Or maybe to the ML as a
> whole? Basically it would read:

As long as the list of reviewers volunteered for that.

We already get the messages with the patches. I wonder if adding yet
another message to our mail boxes is going to help. At least for me, the
issue is finding the energy to review things, not tools for finding old
patches.

If we are interested in handling submissions more quickly, we could
arrange for package-related changes to be linted and built before they
get sent to the list subscribers. Spending time on a patch series before
learning that the submitter did not even test it reduces my motivation
to review.