Re: release management

["Bart Schaefer" <schaefer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Nov 2,  4:50pm, Adam Spiers wrote:
} Subject: Re: release management
}
} I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the key developers amongst us
} don't feel an urgent need for some central CVS (or other)
} repository[0].  This is presumably because after years of hacking
} they're genuine gurus when it comes to applying patches of all
} different shapes, sizes and ages to zsh.

In my case, it's because I do all my zsh work at home, where my net
connection is only 56K at the best of times (usually slower).  I can't
reliably commit into (nor even update from, based on attempts with the
server Tanaka has set up) a remote CVS repository.  If patches stopped
appearing on the mailing list, I'd quickly be as far out of it as you
now believe yourself to be, or else I'd have to set up some kind of
two-stage download through a machine at the office. [*]

} trying to keep up to date is taking so much of the time I allocate for
} zsh hacking, that in the last few weeks[1] I've been unable to do
} anything useful
[...]
} [1] It's become harder since the regular intermediate releases stopped.

I'm trying to see to it that they haven't stopped, just gotten farther
apart, but I'm at if not over my limit on zsh-time.

} As I think I mentioned before, if no-one else wants to do it, just say
} the word and I'll immediately set it up myself on a reliable RedHat
} box[3], with write-access for whoever volunteers as coordinator.

Aside from the unresponsiveness of the staff at sunsite.auc.dk lately,
I think in fact that a volunteer coordinator is the missing bit.  We've
had several offers of places to put such a thing, but no one with the
bandwidth (time and network together) to run it.

} I could even set up a commit mechanism so that commits from anonymous
} read-only users would not get committed but instead forwarded to this
} list for approval, or similar.

I think something like this is going to be essential.

[*] To get the copy from which I made bart-8, I checked out from Tanaka's
    server while at work, then made a tarfile and scp'd that home.

-- 
Bart Schaefer                                 Brass Lantern Enterprises
http://www.well.com/user/barts              http://www.brasslantern.com