Re: A "cosmetic changes" commit that removes security fixes

[Leo Prikler]

Am Donnerstag, den 29.04.2021, 11:13 +0200 schrieb Léo Le Bouter:
> On Wed, 2021-04-28 at 17:52 +0200, Marius Bakke wrote:
> > Léo,
> > 
> > We maintainers have been disappointed by Marks harsh tone which do
> > not
> > meet the project's communication standards, but also by your
> > apparent
> > lack of will to reply constructively to legitimate criticism.
> > 
> > This is the next in a series of incidents.  The incidents are okay
> > --we
> > we all make mistakes and that's how we learn--but we interpreted
> > your
> > responses all too often as dismissive and defensive, rather than
> > understanding and forward-looking.  This has been causing
> > unnecessary
> > friction and stress, and is not how we envision peaceful
> > collaboration.
> > 
> > I'm sorry to say your commit privileges have been temporarily
> > suspended.  After one month, you are invited to get in touch with
> > the
> > maintainers collective and discuss next steps.
> > 
> > You have done terrific work in Guix in the short time you've been
> > around: from the POWER9 port, to the many security fixes,
> > to tracking and reporting issues, and suggesting improvements to
> > the
> > tools.  I hope you'll eventually rejoin to collaborate in the
> > peaceful
> > and empathetic fashion that this project encourages.
> > 
> 
> Hello!
> 
> To make a statement about this on the public mailing list also, I
> think
> such suspension is largely unfair and unjustified.
I personally disagree.  While their tone may have been questionable, I
find it important that both committers and non-committers are able to
call changes into question, everything else would not be democratic. 
Ideally, that would happen during review, but this thread has clearly
indicated that the review process failed in this instance.  Perhaps
informing you privately first is more fair, but pointless assignments
of guilt aside it is an issue that we should all be aware of and learn
from, so as to not repeat it.

> It seems I am expected to do peaceful collaboration with people who
> are
> not writing messages in a non-violent manner, and I refuse to engage
> further in that context. I do not want to answer Mark or anyone else
> who does not write in a friendly way. If that means I cannot be a GNU
> Guix contributor then I will not be any longer. It means for me that
> GNU Guix is not a safe place for me to contribute to.
Even if unfriendly, we are not attacking you on any non-technical
grounds, but instead asking you to do self-criticism and to learn from
your mistake.  You can (and should) call the tone in which this is done
into question, but this does not absolve you from your duty to ensure
package quality standards.

> I think if anyone expects me to not answer in a dismissive or
> defensive
> way then also they must think of the message they're writing if it is
> encouraging a confrontational response or peaceful collaboration. I
> don't feel like I have been hindering peaceful collaboration at any
> time, since everything I've done in GNU Guix was collaborative work.
> With many people in the GNU Guix community everything goes well and
> is
> very peaceful, when there's problems it's with specific people who
> also
> happen to write messages in a way that generates confrontation. I
> cannot and I refuse to collaborate with people who are not being
> friendly and do not care about the emotions of the humans they're
> communicating with, it's the reason I come to GNU Guix in the first
> place, but to me it appears it's not the right place for that either
> now.
The criticisms pointed at you comes not just from Mark, but others as
well.  Others, who I would argue, potentially phrase them in a less
confrontational manner.  Leaving them unanswered just because Mark's
tone was inadequate is in my opinion not justified.

Regards,
Leo