Re: [edk2-devel] [edk2-platforms][PATCH 1/8] Platform/RPi: Add model family detection

["Laszlo Ersek" <lersek@redhat.com>]

On 11/21/19 09:55, Laszlo Ersek wrote:
> On 11/20/19 22:50, Pete Batard wrote:
> 
>> [...]
>>
>> Which is why I am trying to invite them to consider one aspect that I
>> believe is often overlooked: trying to treat time as the 3d most
>> valuable resource a project needs to concern itself with (end-user
>> experience being first and overall code/software quality second), and
>> applying flexibility to what some might be a bit too eager to treat as
>> non-negotiable rules as a result of that. Rules should be made to serve
>> and foster those resources rather than the opposite.
> 
> Contribution rules are already made to prioritize time and effort --
> *maintainer* time and effort.
> 
> - There are fewer maintainers than contributors.
> 
> - Maintainers tend to stick around for long, contributors may or may not
> (it varies).
> 
> - Maintainers generally take more responsibility for the codebase, as a
> whole, than contributors do.
> 
> - In most cases, reading code is more difficult than writing code.
> 
> All of the above turn maintainership and patch review into a permanent
> bottleneck at the project level. Unclogging that bottleneck is what
> project rules prioritize.
> 
> Nobody doubts that strict contribution rules create bottlenecks on the
> contributor side. That's the lesser wrong. "Moving fast" leads to
> regressions. In a halfway mature project, which users have grown to rely
> on, regressions destroy end-user experience (which you put as first
> priority).

BTW I don't claim that "strict rules" are the only way to keep
regressions out.

Many projects that "move fast" justify moving fast, and justify easing
up on patch review, with having thorough CI. "Thorough CI" is also not
easy though (in particular integration tests) -- keeping the test suite
up-to-date, reviewing patches for the tests (incl. test infrastructure),
plus operating the test environment, also require time and effort.

Thanks
Laszlo