On Feb 15, 2013 3:25 PM, "Greg Stein" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 09:11:13AM -0500, Rob Weir wrote:
> > On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 8:57 AM, Rob Weir <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 8:45 AM, Greg Stein <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >> On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 05:31:43PM -0500, Rob Weir wrote:
> > >>> Obviously the changes to Calc's POWER() function did not go well.
> > >>>
> > >>> IMHO, we need to better respect the rare but powerful veto option
that
> > >>> committers have:
> > >>>
> > >>> http://www.apache.org/foundation/glossary.html#Veto
> > >>>
> > >>> When a committ is vetoed, it should be reverted quickly.
Remember, a
> > >>
> > >> No. This is flat out incorrect.
> > >>
> > >> A veto means you cannot *ship* with that change in there. It can
stick
> > >> around as long as necessary, but must eventually be pulled out when
> > >> the code is shipped.
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > > If this is true then you have a Foundation document which is incorrect
> > > and needs to be changed, since it is totally out of synch with what
> > > you are saying:
>
> Not surprised.
>
> > And Greg, just to be perfectly clear and to avoid any misunderstanding
> > here, I'm not arguing against your interpretation.  If that is the
> > consensus view then I'm happy to adopt it as my own.  I'm just
> > pointing out that you have a prominent page on the website that, to
> > the uninitiated, appears to say something entirely different.  Phrases
> > like "forces it to be reverted" and "may not be overridden nor voted
> > down" are quite strong statements.
>
> Any change can be vetoed at any time. There is no statute of
> limitations, except for making a release. (http://s.apache.org/j4)
>
> Thus, "bad" code can sit around in version control for a very long time.
>
> The "forces it to be reverted" is in reference to making a release.
>
> Obviously, the community doesn't want to wait that long. Ripple
> effects can make it hard to revert the change later. This is why you
> start the discussion and come to consensus on how to proceed.
>
> In my experience, "proceed" usually means additional changes to
> address the concerns raised. The only time "revert" has ever been the
> solution is when somebody has added huge new chunks of code that the
> community doesn't agree with [in terms of direction].
>
> There is quite a bit of history in the httpd project discussing what
> "veto" means, and how to handle them. I summarize all those years with
> the simple phrase, "veto means a discussion is needed".
>
thanks for putting some sense into this discussion. I totally agree with
your point of view.

and please remember accepting "backwards compatibility" as a technical
argument is real killer which can be used to 99℅ of all commits. So
starting a discussion makes sense whena committer has concern, but using a
veto based on "backwards compatibility" to revert is pure anarchy.

rgds
jan i
> Cheers,
> -g

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