amending the new package process

[Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek]

On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 12:10:19PM +0100, Vít Ondruch wrote:
> Dne 21.1.2015 v 11:49 Nikos Mavrogiannopoulos napsal(a):
> > I'd like to propose an amendment to allow
> > bringing packages even if no reviewers are available (the typical case).
> >
> > Step 6: ... If the proposed package is not reviewed for 2 months, the
> > package must be reviewed by the submitter, and a git module with the
> > master branch will be approved.
> 
> The self review doesn't make sense, since I expect you did the package
> to your best knowledge already and you really want second pair of eyes
> to find any issues which slipped through your hands.
Yes, I think that a review is always needed if we want to maintain
quality. I'd guess that it is even more important for packages which
stuck in the queue for a while:

- simple and clean packages can often be reviewed and accepted in one
  sitting, the more complicated always require a few iterations. If
  nobody even comments this might be a sign that even if nothing is
  obviously wrong, the spec is unclear/complicated/iffy.

- in the two months, things can change: FPC changes guidelines, upstream
  releases new versions, new warnings appear in the build process, etc.

> At least myself, I always looking for reviewer who cares to find every
> issues I missed, challenge my knowledge and I'd be quite unhappy to
> discover later that something slipped through review unnoticed.
+1

> And there is nothing wrong with review swaps. You help others, they help
> you.
Yes, I think we should amend the wiki to explicitly tell people to write
to fedora-devel after a few days. This would be fairly low volume and the
is this an important and long-standing issue.

Unfortunately review swaps don't work for new packagers, before they are
sponsored. They are encouraged to do informal reviews, but those reviews
don't carry formal weight. I propose to change this, and allow non-sponsored
packagers to do formal reviews, except that an actual packager with review
rights has to ack the review. This will reduce the work for exisiting
packagers, give potential packagers a way to prove themselves and make
sponsorship easier.

Zbyszek