[Info-vax] Open source usage, Was Python and various libraries updated

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 8/14/2020 1:22 PM, Craig A. Berry wrote:
> On 8/13/20 9:51 AM, Arne Vajhøj wrote:
>> On 8/13/2020 10:25 AM, Phillip Helbig (undress to reply) wrote:
>>> In article <rh3i1p$hb7$1 at gioia.aioe.org>, =?UTF-8?Q?Arne_Vajh=c3=b8j?=
>>> <arne at vajhoej.dk> writes:
>>>> * have a person spend some time lobbying open source projects to
>>>>     include VMS fixes in main distribution
>>>
>>> Why is that necessary?  Does the BDFL decide what fixes get in and which
>>> don't?
>>
>> Open source projects vary greatly in how they are managed.
>>
>> Some projects may hand out commit priv to a public master repo
>> if you ask.
>>
>> Some project may have a BDFL that wants to approve every change.
>>
>> Many projects will be somewhere in between.
>>
>> I have heard about problems getting VMS changes incorporated many times.
>> Maybe it has gotten better over time.
> 
> Lobbying is not what will change that. Most open source projects have
> coding standards, commit message standards, code review and testing
> standards, and established processes for managing all of that. Getting
> your changes accepted, much less getting a commit bit yourself,
> generally means showing up consistently, participating in the community,
> and following all its policies.

If the project has such standards then one obviously have to follow
those.

Large projects is likely to have such.

Small projects not so likely.

But I will assume that following the rules are a required but
not sufficient to get "accepted".

There may still be a need for some lobbyism.

> Fully ported forks of a two-year-old maintenance release are not likely
> to get accepted. That just displays ignorance about how open source
> works (and yes, this is the traditional VMS Engineering way of dealing
> with open source).

Fair point.

But that is something to work out with the project and the
contributors.

>                    Fine-grained commits on a branch that is continually
> rebased against the development stream stand a much better chance.

Could be.

Mentally I am still in RCS/CVS mode.

:-)

Arne