[development] CVS HEAD, code freeze, zeitgeist

[Derek Wright]

On Aug 19, 2006, at 5:08 AM, Bèr Kessels wrote:

> Golden stars are -indeed- not going to magically bring me coding  
> ninjas.

here, here.

my original post in this thread wasn't directed at golden contrib at  
all.  i think these are basically orthogonal discussions (though  
there's a tiny-winy bit of overlap)...

golden contrib is good for quality control, help sorting through the  
very large and highly mixed project download listings, etc.   
basically, most of the stuff ber is talking about.  i see it as  
something to help site admins choose what modules to build their  
sites on top of, not as something to help our internal development  
workflow.  of course, a gold star isn't the only thing that would  
help.  browsing by download stats (http://drupal.org/node/66013), a  
project rating/review system (http://drupal.org/node/77976), exposing  
the kind of end-user-readable data about issue + code activity dries  
is talking about, etc, etc, can all help with this problem.

one possible solution to my original concern about core running too  
fast for contrib to keep up was the proposal for a longer *freeze*  
period.  i see a few pros to this approach:

1) more time for contrib to catch up. ;)
2) more time to work on hardening, testing, bug fixing for core itself
3) more time to work on documentation
4) more time to work on usability enhancements (so long as they're  
not major and don't change the API)

the downside, of course, is that it would delay the next furious  
round of changes.  however, that might just be a good thing. ;)  2  
major releases a year instead of 3 isn't anything to be ashamed of.   
and, if the extra time means that the folks working on new core API  
changes have more time to design, get feedback, do initial  
implementations, etc, etc, it's probably going to speed up the rate  
at which the patches make it in, since they'll be better patches with  
more sane APIs in the first place. ;)

but, whether or not we have more time to do the work, we still have  
the human resources problem.  i think dries is right about what  
brings you "coding ninjas" -- people using the stuff, relying on it,  
and effort spent developing a team.  that said, sometimes a  
"team" (or elements of it) do just fall out of the sky.  for example,  
justin randell (cck in IRC) decided, simply because he wants to, that  
he's going to help adopt the project issue queue and work on  
patches.  we've discussed some stuff via IRC and email, and i'm about  
to commit a set of patches from him that will end up resolving about  
5 critical bugs.  i suppose dries would say the only reason justin  
decided to do this is b/c i've been so active and vocal in working on  
project, developing a team, etc, but from my perspective, i did no  
work at all to get his help -- he just came out of no where as a  
blessing in my time of need. ;)  only justin could really answer for  
sure, but i certainly didn't spend any effort trying to recruit him  
for the task...

On Aug 18, 2006, at 9:55 AM, Boris Mann wrote:
> On 18-Aug-06, at 8:32 AM, Jeremy Epstein wrote:
>>
>> IMHO, the first project that deserves the "Boris Mann Gold Star"
>> certificate is the project module itself. Great work on this, Derek.
>
> /me leads round of applause for Derek.

/me blushes.  thanks for all the love, everyone. ;)  of course, i'm  
only able to do what i'm doing because i'm "standing on the shoulders  
of giants" -- dries, kjartan, killes, nedjo, and everyone else who  
wrote, maintained, and kept project.module afloat (not to mention  
drupal itself(!)), long before i "dropped out of the sky in the time  
of need". ;)

cheers,
-dww