Etiquette for contacting a package maintainer?

[Timothy Selivanow]

What is the proper etiquette for contacting a current package
maintainer?  I'm working on a package that uses a current package as a
dependency, and I have some questions that need to be asked...


--Tim
 ___________________________________________________________ 
/ Not only is UNIX dead, it's starting to smell really bad. \
\                 -- Rob Pike                               /
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      .( o ).

[Tom Callaway]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 15:43 -0700, Timothy Selivanow wrote:
>  What is the proper etiquette for contacting a current package
>  maintainer?  I'm working on a package that uses a current package as a
>  dependency, and I have some questions that need to be asked... 
Email them, and be polite? :)

~spot

[Seth Vidal]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 18:50 -0400, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
>  On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 15:43 -0700, Timothy Selivanow wrote:
>  > What is the proper etiquette for contacting a current package
>  > maintainer?  I'm working on a package that uses a current package as a
>  > dependency, and I have some questions that need to be asked...
>  
>  Email them, and be polite? :)
>   
What??! Without a formal 6-part introduction and etiquette session,
followed by tea ceremony and ritual beating?

Crazy! in this day an age just emailing someone!

What IS the world coming to?

-sv

[Timothy Selivanow]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 18:50 -0400, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
>  On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 15:43 -0700, Timothy Selivanow wrote:
>  > What is the proper etiquette for contacting a current package
>  > maintainer?  I'm working on a package that uses a current package as a
>  > dependency, and I have some questions that need to be asked...
>  
>  Email them, and be polite? :) 
If I don't /have/ their email address, I just use
${FASName}(a)fedoraproject.org?  Part of the "etiquette" I think I was/am
needing is /how/ to get their email address...


--Tim
 __________________________________________________________________________ 
/ Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to \
| examine the laws of heat.                                                |
\                 -- Christopher Morley                                    /
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        \ /\
        ( )
      .( o ).

[Tom Callaway]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 16:26 -0700, Timothy Selivanow wrote:
>  On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 18:50 -0400, Tom "spot" Callaway
> wrote:
>  > On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 15:43 -0700, Timothy Selivanow wrote:
>  > > What is the proper etiquette for contacting a current package
>  > > maintainer?  I'm working on a package that uses a current package as a
>  > > dependency, and I have some questions that need to be asked...
>  > 
>  > Email them, and be polite? :)
>  
>  If I don't /have/ their email address, I just use
>  ${FASName}(a)fedoraproject.org?  Part of the "etiquette" I think I was/am
>  needing is /how/ to get their email address... 
Ah, yes. That should work for everyone.

~spot

[Jesse Keating]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 19:58 -0400, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:
>  > 
>  > If I don't /have/ their email address, I just use
>  > ${FASName}(a)fedoraproject.org?  Part of the "etiquette" I think I was/am
>  > needing is /how/ to get their email address...
>  
>  Ah, yes. That should work for everyone. 
I would still like to at some point get <package&gt;(a)fedoraproject.org
which would do a pkgdb lookup and mail all involved with said package.
Then all bugzilla ownerships can just go to <package&gt;(a)fp.o etc, etc...

-- 
Jesse Keating
Fedora -- Freedom² is a feature!

[Todd Zullinger]

Jesse Keating wrote:
>  I would still like to at some point get
> <package&gt;(a)fedoraproject.org
>  which would do a pkgdb lookup and mail all involved with said package.
>  Then all bugzilla ownerships can just go to <package&gt;(a)fp.o etc, etc... 
This would be a very nice thing.

Of course, it would cut down on the fun that everyone who needs to
contact a number of maintainers has in adding code to grab the list of
{,co-}maintainers for each package.  ;)

-- 
Todd        OpenPGP -> KeyID: 0xBEAF0CE3 | URL: www.pobox.com/~tmz/pgp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having
lots to do and not doing it.
    -- Mary Wilson Little

[Seth Vidal]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 17:05 -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
>  On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 19:58 -0400, Tom "spot" Callaway
> wrote:
>  > > 
>  > > If I don't /have/ their email address, I just use
>  > > ${FASName}(a)fedoraproject.org?  Part of the "etiquette" I think I
> was/am
>  > > needing is /how/ to get their email address...
>  > 
>  > Ah, yes. That should work for everyone.
>  
>  I would still like to at some point get <package&gt;(a)fedoraproject.org
>  which would do a pkgdb lookup and mail all involved with said package.
>  Then all bugzilla ownerships can just go to <package&gt;(a)fp.o etc, etc...
>   
umm - not sure that'll work.


it would mean a namespace conflict b/t people whose username is 'yum'
and the package.

probably best to have packagename(a)packages.fedoraproject.org

-sv

[Tom Callaway]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 21:48 -0400, seth vidal wrote:

>  it would mean a namespace conflict b/t people whose username is
> 'yum'
>  and the package.
>  
>  probably best to have packagename(a)packages.fedoraproject.org 
Yep. Seems like a good idea.

~spot

[Bill Nottingham]

Tom spot Callaway (tcallawa(a)redhat.com) said: 
>  On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 21:48 -0400, seth vidal wrote:
>  
>  > it would mean a namespace conflict b/t people whose username is 'yum'
>  > and the package.
>  > 
>  > probably best to have packagename(a)packages.fedoraproject.org
>  
>  Yep. Seems like a good idea. 
Or <pkg>-owner/<pkg>-maintainers. Something unlikely to have
a username collision.

Bill

[Seth Vidal]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 22:19 -0400, Bill Nottingham wrote:
>  Tom spot Callaway (tcallawa(a)redhat.com) said: 
>  > On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 21:48 -0400, seth vidal wrote:
>  > 
>  > > it would mean a namespace conflict b/t people whose username is 'yum'
>  > > and the package.
>  > > 
>  > > probably best to have packagename(a)packages.fedoraproject.org
>  > 
>  > Yep. Seems like a good idea.
>  
>  Or <pkg>-owner/<pkg>-maintainers. Something unlikely to have
>  a username collision.
>   
one hang up I realized: the owner for a package under EL5 may not
necessarily equal the owner under F9.

should it just go to all maintainers/co-maintainers on every release?


-sv

[Tom Callaway]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 22:27 -0400, seth vidal wrote:
>  On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 22:19 -0400, Bill Nottingham wrote:
>  > Tom spot Callaway (tcallawa(a)redhat.com) said: 
>  > > On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 21:48 -0400, seth vidal wrote:
>  > > 
>  > > > it would mean a namespace conflict b/t people whose username is
> 'yum'
>  > > > and the package.
>  > > > 
>  > > > probably best to have packagename(a)packages.fedoraproject.org
>  > > 
>  > > Yep. Seems like a good idea.
>  > 
>  > Or <pkg>-owner/<pkg>-maintainers. Something unlikely to have
>  > a username collision.
>  > 
>  
>  one hang up I realized: the owner for a package under EL5 may not
>  necessarily equal the owner under F9.
>  
>  should it just go to all maintainers/co-maintainers on every release? 
Perhaps just the rawhide owners?

~spot

[Seth Vidal]

On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 22:41 -0400, Tom "spot" Callaway wrote:

>  Perhaps just the rawhide owners?
>   
Here's something to generate the list for all committers - no matter
which release. B/c not all packages have a rawhide branch - or, if they
do, the don't have an owner.


http://skvidal.fedorapeople.org/misc/owner-email.py

thanks to toshio for showing me where to look to do that.

-sv