Re: shortened flags affair, part 8: choosing appropriate flag (issue4312057)

[Janek Warchoł]

2011/4/15 Graham Percival <address@hidden>:
> On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 01:07:02AM +0200, Janek Warchoł wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> 2011/4/7 Graham Percival <address@hidden>
>> > You severely over-estimate either the number of "seasoned
>> > developers", or the skill of most people on this mailing list.
> ...
>> > The same goes for virtually every aspect of lilypond.  There are
>> > very few actual "seasoned" developers, and most of those are very
>> > busy with other things in their lives.
>
>> We are a team. Teamwork doesn't just mean having many people at work,
>> it means helping each other - i don't have to remind you, you surely
>> know this.
>
> Absolutely!
>
> But the development community has a very huge problem:
> - the very skilled members generally have full-time jobs and
>  familes.
> - it takes about 5 hours a week simply to keep "up to date"
>  with the various lilypond mailing lists.
> - lilypond is a hobby, and some people only want to spend 2 or 3
>  hours a week on such a hobby.
>
> I am allocating almost all of my 10 hours a week to reducing the
> amount of time that it takes to keep informed.  We can do much
> better in this regard.  Main points are:
> - bug squad + issue tracker, so that programmers don't need to
>  look at user emails.  Also updating issues with discussions
>  on -devel, so that in case nothing gets finished for months,
>  a programmer can quickly get "up to date" by reading the
>  material in (or linked from) the issue tracker
> - organizing patches, including the "patch countdown"
>  annoucements.

I can help with this as soon as i regain my Lilypond enthusiasm
(estimated to happen after finishing shortened flags).

> Note that both of these points require little or no technical
> ability.  Non-technically-skilled users can help tremendously with
> these points.  And if we can reduce the time it takes to read
> emails from 5 hours a week to 3 hours a week, that allows
> programmers to spend more time programming or helping each other.

I have an idea concerning this, should i wait for GOP or start a discussion?

>> But i know my limits: now i've reached the limit of my skill
>> and, more importantly, the limit of my psychical stength. I'm too
>> tired to continue trying to do things that i don't know how to do.
>> I ask for help and i hope that someone would take 15 minutes necessary
>> to get things going here.
>
> Right.  The main problem for you is:
> - you need a mentor.  Somebody who can guide you through the
>  steps, encourage you, and investigate if you get truly stuck.
>
> Unfortunately, Mike Solomon is the only programmer who has offered
> to mentor people, and IIRC he's paired up with Benko Pal.

Mike is also my mentor, see your mail "contributors / mentors" from 22
II. Unfortunately, he has been busy since April 3rd and said he will
remain busy until next thursday.
Nevertheless, without his help i would be much farther form finishing
than i am now.

Since my new patch passes regtests, can you change
http://code.google.com/p/lilypond/issues/detail?id=1582 status to
patch_review?

Janek