On 15/08/2025 15:27, Antoine Le Gonidec wrote:
Le Thu, Aug 14, 2025 at 11:00:53PM -0600, Antonio Russo a écrit :(…) When I run in to a problem in Debian, I try to follow a rough pattern: 1. I identify a suspect package, and diagnose a cause. 2. I identify a solution. 3. I implement the solution, recompile, and confirm it solves the problem. 4. I submit the solution (either upstream or to Debian). Part of step (4) involves writing prose that documents the investigation and describes the patch. If I am understanding this email correctly, it sounds to me like you are saying that this is a "code dump" because I didn't email you first. Am I understanding you correctly?Yes, that’s correct. I should be contacted even before step 2., as a simple matter of respect actually. If not, how is the potential contributor knowing I am not going to waste time on something they too are planning to fix? I think coordination is very important for both software development and packages maintenance, and it can not happen if communication is skipped or only happens after the fact.
I think you missed something: communications cost.What you ask seems suspiciously like TCP: the submitter needs to initiate a handshake, the maintainer could choose to answer the handshake, the submitter then knows it's OK and sends in the actual content. 3 transmissions for the initial payload.
While sending in the actual content right away is a bit like UDP, but also different: the payload could not be lost in transmission, but only rejected, sometimes in the form of lack of reply.
I'm also amused by the idea that lack of handshake equals communication being skipped or happening "after the fact". Handshakes are a procedure and/or formality, communication lies in the payload.
(...)
What I want is communication, not bureaucracy.
(...) And people might consider the handshake to be exactly bureaucracy.While it might not appear as such to you, writing an email is a full blown cognitive load every time for some.
--
,Sdrager
Blair Noctis
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