[Development] (no subject)

[Craig.Scott at csiro.au]

On 21/12/2011, at 12:19 PM, <mark.keir at nokia.com> <mark.keir at nokia.com> wrote:

> Posting patches to the JIRA bugreporting system is contrary to the terms of use for that system.
> https://bugreports.qt.nokia.com/secure/TermsAndConditions.html
> Don't do this.

I know I'll probably be shot down immediately, but.....

This is one of the more annoying things about the changes that have been going on with Qt. Previously, it was enough to understand how to build Qt from source, then find the bugs that are affecting you and contribute a fix via posting it to JIRA. Granted, someone else would have to merge in that code into Qt and make sure it went through all the CI systems, etc., but for the average developer, this arrangement was not a significant barrier to helping fix things that were broken. With the new system, we are asking such people to learn a whole lot more just to get their patch submitted for someone to even look at. Previously, you could download a source tarball and that was about as hard as it got. With the new system, you need to be conversant with git and gerrit, plus understand the repository structure. These are barriers that probably mean higher quality contributions, but they also filter out the efforts of those who do not have the time or are not willing to learn the new things.

I think the all-or-nothing nature of this shift is unfortunate and I'd really encourage some thought on how we might be able to accept patches from people who are willing to do the work to find and fix bugs (that's the real value here, remember), but not necessarily to also put in the time to work out how to use the new infrastructure. I'm sure plenty of people (most?) on this list are happy with the new system, but I for one am concerned at just how much more complicated it is now to get a relatively simple patch incorporated if you are an average developer. I'm sure processes and documentation will likely be streamlined as we all move forward, but let's also be aware that we are losing some useful contributors as well.



> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: development-bounces+mark.keir=nokia.com at qt-project.org [mailto:development-bounces+mark.keir=nokia.com at qt-project.org] On Behalf Of ext Dave Mateer
> Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 11:59 PM
> To: development at qt-project.org
> Subject: [Development] (no subject)
> 
> I have several patches to Qt4 that I have posted on the bug tracker. Now that the new contribution model is in place, I wanted to submit those as patches.
> I'm not very familiar with git (we use SVN), and am having trouble at the following step on the "Qt Contributions Guidelines" page:
> 
>   > Qt 4: Add a git remote called "gerrit" in your cloned repository, which
>   > points to the Qt 4 project on codereview.qt-project.org. Note there is
>   > currently no Qt 4 reviews on codereview.qt-project.org so proposals should
>   > still go to Gitorious.
> 
> I have absolutely no idea what that means. I looked through the git manual and think I see how to create a remote, but I am not sure what to put as the target. I do not see any Qt4 project on the codereview site, only Qt5.
> 
> Could someone please explain what the above statement means and perhaps just include the git command I need to run to fulfill the requirement?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Dave
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--
Dr Craig Scott
Computational Software Engineering Team Leader, CSIRO (CMIS)
Melbourne, Australia