Hi Even,

thanks for the feedback.

Let me briefly elaborate on the distinction between corporate and non-corporate 
contributors (…which I did not intend in the first place):

  *   As an individual, I can very well live with the general message and 
‘sign’ the policy based on trust. As written before, I do understand this 
message and fully agree to it.
  *   However, as an employee in a corporate environment, I will have to 
justify and quantify investments. No one likes that – but that’s just how it is.
  *   Accepting a policy means signing a contract. And if formulations leave 
room for interpretation, it gets harder to sign (or fulfill) this contract. As 
an individual I wouldn’t care too much. However, in a company with legal 
departments these thing are handled more strict.

So the intent is not to draw a division between corporate and non-corporate (it 
may be the same individual), but the perspectives differ for sure depending on 
what hat you wear.

I like this proposal a lot more as it makes the intention clearer and leaves 
less room for interpretation:
https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/pull/5128#discussion_r786826988

Regards,
Mathias

From: Even Rouault <even.roua...@spatialys.com>
Date: Tuesday, 18. January 2022 at 16:07
To: Kemeter, Mathias <mathias.keme...@sap.com>, gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org 
<gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org>
Subject: Re: [gdal-dev] Call for discussion on RFC 85: Policy regarding 
substantial code additions
Mathias,
Hi Even, hi everyone,

As we (SAP) are probably one of the triggers for formalizing this policy, let 
me take a first stab from the perspective of a new contributor trying to make a 
substantial contribution:
(My personal position is that a first contribution that is a substantial one is 
probably not the best way to engage and socialize with a project. End of 
bracket)




  1.  Having such a policy greatly increases transparency on what has to be 
done to make a driver contribution. The outlined criteria reduces the need for 
lengthy discussions.


  2.  I do specifically like the idea of having a list of responsible contacts. 
It makes it easier to track personas – even if people change. Still, the list 
could be outdated at some point. Maybe a regular check-in (via email, virtual 
meeting, etc.) would be beneficial.
It is the responsibility of a maintainer listed the contacts that can no longer 
occupy this position to update the list: preferably with a replacement 
maintainer, or if not with an empty name.


  1.

  2.  To me, the term “significant code addition” should be defined more 
precisely. Not only in terms of quantity, but also complexity. New drivers 
typically have a significant footprint in terms of code quantity, but they are 
isolated. Whereas there may be other contributions with less code, but spanning 
several software components.
If you know how to define that more precisely, please propose. But this RFC is 
more about giving a general message, and as noted at the end the PSC is the 
ultimate adjudicator.



  1.  At least for corporate contributors, the bullet point of participating in 
the day-to-day activities is too vague to be seriously accomplishable. While I 
do well understand, what the goal of the statement is, I still think, the 
responsibilities have to be defined (and quantified) more clearly as the 
current description may be interpreted as a bottomless pit for development 
resources.

I'm not sure how we can quantify, and I don't like the artificial division 
about "corporate contributors" vs "non-corporate contributors". Are 
non-corporate contributors expected to spend their nights & weekends doing all 
the boring & thankless tasks that corporate contributors don't "quantify" as 
being in their area of responsibility ? The message here is that the project 
can't work if people wear blinders and only care about the part that they 
contributed to without considering & investing in the project as a whole. 
Maintaining a project of this size is close to be a bottomless pit.

Even

--

http://www.spatialys.com<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spatialys.com%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cmathias.kemeter%40sap.com%7C2f9a04eb7c5d43bb74f208d9da944181%7C42f7676cf455423c82f6dc2d99791af7%7C0%7C0%7C637781152557892198%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=SHAe4Zgt870J32QqKRooJfkvi5a0w4YbvfD5bcEtHBk%3D&reserved=0>

My software is free, but my time generally not.
_______________________________________________
gdal-dev mailing list
gdal-dev@lists.osgeo.org
https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/gdal-dev

Reply via email to