Re: [octave forge] releasing and template Makefiles

[Mike Miller]

On Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 21:55:39 +0100, Kai Torben Ohlhus wrote:
> I think what JuanPi is referring to is the step 12:  Some Octave Forge
> admin has to accept the reviewed package put the released tarball to [1],
> and finally announce the package update on the website (updated list of
> functions and so on) to make `pkg install -forge` work.

I honestly don't think he is, he asked about how non-admins can help
with the review process. JuanPi can you clarify if that's what you are
asking about?

I think he is referring to helping to do the work of peer review of
pending packages, resulting in feedback to the package maintainer or
comments on the Forge tracker saying that the package looks good. The
purpose of this is to help reduce the workload of the admin who simply
needs to "push the button" to publish the package.

If we have more automated QA testing of packages and help with peer
review from other package developers, I think the work of the admin can
be vastly reduced to simply "ok, this package has met all of these
checkboxes, publish it".

Ultimately the Octave Forge "admin" could simply be a webhook that
validates that certain tests have been done on the package release
candidate and pushes a tag and publishes a tarball.

> Oliver did lots of work last year to make Octave Forge a great website and
> to formulate a SourceForge based release procedure.  I am too little
> involved in this project to judge the real effort, but I have the
> impression, that things are too complicated this year for the current
> manpower.  Is Oliver currently the only one who can do this final package
> release steps?  The SourceForge release list [2] counts 13 pending items
> over two months.  Did the Octave Forge release process stall?

Yes, Julien has mentioned a couple days ago that Oliver is currently the
only one signed up as an Octave Forge admin with the power to publish
packages.

My point is that the workload of the one or two Octave Forge admins
shouldn't have to extend to doing all of the quality control and package
validation steps I listed earlier. That quickly leads to overwork and
burnout.

I would be happy to volunteer as an Octave Forge release admin if other
people are willing to help with independent review of the package
validation steps.

-- 
mike

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