Re: mailing list organization

[Ben Hyde <bh...@pobox.com>]

On Sunday, January 5, 2003, at 10:56 PM, Greg Stein wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 05, 2003 at 08:36:21PM -0500, Ben Hyde wrote:
>> Sam Ruby wrote:
>>> The proposal suggests a separate cvs mailing list.  My recommendation
>>> is that cvs mail be directed to the -dev list.  This accomplishes ...
>>
>> +1
>>
>> The separation of cvs@ and dev@ in httpd is before my time, I'd be
>> fascinated to hear stories about it.  - ben

In my experience it's surprising how many committers aren't on any 
given CVS mailing list.  Pushing them together forces developers to 
behave like I think they should - what could possibly be wrong with 
that :-).

> Personally, I prefer the separation, and for keeping the users on the
> developer's list.

The CVS mailing list in the face of the developers is good because they 
get to observe the code in pain.  The user mailing list in the face of 
the developers is good because they get to observe the users in pain.  
:-)

I like to cling to the fantasy that developers are primarily users and 
they have come to the project to coordinate with other developer-users 
to solve a common problem.  As that fantasy become more and more bogus 
some scheme to increase the chance developers get a taste of the user's 
pain is a good thing.

I like to cling to the fantasy that developers feel it's part of the 
job to know enough about all the code in their project that they can 
and in fact would be frightened not to keep an eye on every commit.  
Sadly I know from experience that a surprisingly low percentage of 
developers actually are on the cvs lists.  That maybe just the lack of 
clear instructions and reminders - something the incubator can help 
with.

> I've been using and liking this model for a long while now.

I doubt there is a 'best practice' (what a pompus term that is!) here; 
or if there is then it maybe complex to state... maybe something like:

  - The vast majority of people involved with editing (or even 
understanding)
    the code should be on the relevant CVS lists.  Many points of view 
are
    a big help in guarding code quality and capturing easy enhancements.
  - You have to be on the dev list if you want to have a voice in how the
    code evolves; users may find it useful to lurk on that list.
  - ... I don't know exactly what to say about the user list that is
    likely to get follow thru for a large user base.