[darcs-users] core team heads-up! please use the 'screened' branch

[Eric Kow]

Core team members:

You can now darcs get http://darcs.net/screened and push to
darcs-unstable at darcs.net:screened

The following is a proposed/tentative workflow.  I will post it on
http://wiki.darcs.net/Development/PatchReview

For people submitting patches to darcs, things should be the same as
usual. The only change is that core team members will stop asking for
amendments and start asking for followups (if at all).

For core team members, the process is a little bit more involved, but
remember that you'll only be focusing on one piece of it at a time (that
means, either screening [steps 1-3] or reviewing [steps 4-5]), with not
much more work involved.  Also, the new workflow also incorporates some
ideas from Ian about how to lower the barrier for entry for new
developers.  

1. Somebody sends a patch to patches at darcs.net
     (It doesn't matter if it's to screened or not) 
   The patch will have status needs-screening

2A. If the submitter is on the core team, he can optionally consider
    his patches to be self-screened.  Patches you GPG sign will be
    automatically applied to the screened repository [pending some
    procmail rule writing on Eric's part].  (If you want to
    say "please screen this", just don't sign the patch).

2B. Patches from outside the core team should be screened by a core
    team member.  Screening simply consists of checking that the patch
    is sane in principle, with no attempt at thorough review .

3. When a patch bundle has been screened, the patch tracker status
   should be set to needs-review.

   Joachim: would it be possible by any chance for darcswatch to monitor
   http://darcs.net/screened and to automagically set any
   needs-screening patches therein to needs-review?  That would save us
   some admin work.

4. To review a bundle, for now

     darcs get http://darcs.net/screened --context foo.dpatch
     darcs apply

   When you push to mainline, you'll want to be a bit careful that
   you're only pushing stuff you've reviewed already.  In the near
   future, Darcs will have some extra features to make it easier to
   avoid accidentally getting screened patches you didn't review.

5. If you would like modifications to the bundle, say so and also
   set the status to "followup-requested" (formerly known as
   amend-requested).  This is a slight cultural shift; we no longer
   request patch amendments so much as follow on patches.

   Note: please pay attention to who submitted the patch.  The ideal is
   to gradually raise the bar of expectations.  That means that first
   time submitters should have as easy a time as possible: can you the
   core team member just make the follow-up changes yourself and tell
   the submitter about them?  Then just do it.  But as people start
   submitting more patches, you can start to gradually raise your
   expectations about their patch standards.

6. If you are happy with the patch bundle, you can push it to mainline
   http://darcs.net

This workflow may shift a bit as we work the kinks out of it.  Change is
messy!  Please bear with us as we make our first to Nth batch of
mistakes.  Hopefully the dust will settle fairly quickly.  Let me know
if you have any questions or comments.

-- 
Eric Kow <http://www.nltg.brighton.ac.uk/home/Eric.Kow>
For a faster response, try +44 (0)1273 64 2905 or
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