On Mon, 13 Aug 2001, Peter Lairo wrote:
>
> Let's use the definition of the "mail6" keyword and expand it to include
> all Mozilla components (not just mail). The name of the morphed keyword
> doesn't have to be what I suggested, it could be something else. The
> description could include cautionary notes: e.g., "seems easy to fix,
> but could not be after a closer look. If so, please then remove the KW."
> or whatever we need to get this moving.
I (and others) have exactly the same issues with "mail6" as we would with
your proposed keyword(s).
> PS. Ian, maybe you could make a suggestion that I could ridicule without
> seriously considering its merits :(
If the problem you are trying to solve is "how do we get more people
contributing good quality code" then the answer is for these potential
people to do exactly what almost every other contributor has done: Start
off by helping with the QA and bug triage of an area that the new
contributor is interested in until the new contributor is familiar with
the bugs in that area, and then let the new contributor start reading the
source code and poking at it until they are familiar with that too.
Our codebase is *huge*. There is no way someone can jump in, fix a bug,
and jump out without spending DAYS if not WEEKS or MONTHS studying the
project. I'm sorry, it just can't be done. Those that have tried to fix
bugs without knowing the code well enough have quickly found that what
they thought was "low risk" was instead to become a smoketest blocker;
those that have submitted patches without learning the bugs in an area
have quickly been corrected by our reviewers and super reviewers.
To contribute to a project this big requires time. A lot of time. This is
just a fact of life.
If you really want to help, what we need is documentation, to make the
learning curve easier. Keywords are not going to help.
> PPS. Ian, I am sooo glad you found a situation where this keyword might
> not apply. "The exception confirms the rule."
I have yet to find a situation where your keyword *does* apply.
> PPPS. Insults are the arguments of those who have no arguments. (J.J.
> Rousseau, schw.-frz. Phil., 1712-1778)
I hope you find this post more useful then.
--
Ian Hickson )\ _. - ._.) fL
Netscape, Standards Compliance QA /. `- ' ( `--'
+1 650 937 6593 `- , ) - > ) \
irc.mozilla.org:Hixie _________________________ (.' \) (.' -' __________
