Re: Bazaaring the cathedral (Lowering the Barrier to Entry)

On Thu, 2 Apr 2015 08:20:57 -0700 Samuel Cassiba <sam_at_cassiba.com> wrote

> Eitan,
> 
> This being posted on April 1 sets off my BS-o-meter, but I'll bite since
> it's a topic worth shaving a yak or two over.
> 
> WARNING: there be perceptions and opinions here
> 
> Having been ephemerally associated with FreeBSD since early 4.x, I never
..
> Again, I'm pretty sure this is just a April 1 troll, but it's all worth
> saying since the topic was brought up. Lowering the barrier to entry is
> good, but the act of doing so mustn't come at a detriment to quality.
OK. I'll bite...

IMHO I believe that the height of the bar, is directly proportionate
to the quality of the product.

--Chris
> 
> 
> -Samuel
> 
> On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 9:55 AM, Eitan Adler <lists_at_eitanadler.com> wrote:
> 
> > Hi all,
> >
> > FreeBSD today has a significant problem of attracting new developers.
> > The lack of new developers manifests itself in a dearth of driver
> > support, inadequate documentation, and trailing third party packages.
> >
> > One of the key reasons for the lack of people is the high barrier of
> > entry to joining the FreeBSD project.  While every modern project uses
> > git (usually hosted on github), FreeBSD uses self-hosted subversion.
> > The use of git goes beyond just the choice of version control.  It
> > allows for workflows that FreeBSD can't even dream of.  The linux
> > kernel has no concept of a committer.  Instead anyone can clone the
> > git tree, build a kernel, and call themselves a Linux distribution.
> >
> > Our wiki and code review tools are in an even worse position than our
> > repository.  In order to contribute you need to send an email to
> > clusteradm_at_ and hope they deem you worthy enough of access. The bug
> > tracking system is in a better shape but isn't perfect: while any user
> > can create an account, their privileges are limited: they can't help
> > close out bad PRs, reclassify good ones, or do other generally useful
> > work.
> >
> > To solve this problem I propose a simple solution: self-serve commit
> > access.  We create a web service on accounts.freebsd.org via which
> > users can create themselves a freefall account.  In addition to a
> > freefall account, the identical username would be created for the wiki
> > and phabricator, bugzilla, and any other service we might provide.
> >
> > This will allow us to quickly gain large number of contributors, who
> > will be able to make better progress on our missing features, and
> > rectify some of the drawbacks listed above.
> >
> > Today I hope we turn ourselves from the cathedral into a truly open
> > and democratic project!
> >
> >
> > --
> > Eitan Adler
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> >
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