Re: Vertica targeting PostgreSQL users - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

Josh,

* Joshua D. Drake (jd@commandprompt.com) wrote:
> Thank you for responding. You are absolutely correct that those
> sources are available and I was aware of them. Let me ask you a few
> questions about them:

I suspect you know the answer to these questions as well, but since you
asked, I'll answer them for you.

>  * How am I as a potential enthusiastic new contributor going to find
>    those pages? They aren't linked from anywhere that I can easily find.

The wiki main page, at https://wiki.postgresql.org has a specific
section on "Contributor Information."  In that section is a link to
"Development Information" and, after following that link, the very first
link is to the ToDo list.

The GSoC list is linked from the Google Summer of Code website which is
seen by any student interested in working with the PostgreSQL project.
We got 8 submissions last year for GSoC projects, leading me to believe
that it was a successful approach to making that information available.

>  * How do I know the priority of the entries?

This is an open source project and therefore the priorities are those of
the individuals and the companies which contribute to PostgreSQL.  I
don't believe this is news to anyone who is familiar with Open Source.
While I'd certainly applaud efforts to improve the understanding of Open
Source in the general public, I do believe that's outside of the scope
of what the PostgreSQL needs to be focusing on.

>  * How do I know if the entries are official?

Same as the last question.

>  * How do I know if it is already being worked on?

Following the link from "Development Information" leads to a number of
resources, including the "Developer FAQ", which links immediately to
pgsql-hackers, and to the commitfest app.  Those are clearly the best
places to look to see if a given item you're interested in is being
worked on.

>      o How do I know the progress?

Same as the last question.

>      o How do I contribute to discussion of a particular feature? Is
>        that pgsql-hackers or is there a issue tracker?

The Developer FAQ makes this reasonably clear, but I'm sure it could be
improved if someone would spend some effort going over it.

>      o Is pgsql-hackers the only way to contribute to development
>        discussion?

No.

>  * Who decides the roadmap?
>      o Can it be altered?
>      o Why is it all but blank?

This goes back to the question about priorities, answered above.

>  * How can I get mentoring for something I am trying to work on?

This is covered in some detail when it comes to GSoC.  For non-GSoC
efforts, posting to -hackers would be the correct approach.

> The list of barriers to providing a welcoming community to new
> potential contributors continues past this very brief list but I
> think I have illustrated my point. I am not in any way trying to be
> negative but I believe there is no question that we as a community
> could be doing a lot more to decrease the barrier of entry as well
> as increase the positivity of the experience of potential new
> comers.

You asked a number of questions but didn't provide anything that
materially moved us forward, from what I can see.  If you feel that
having a wiki page with the above questions and subsequent answers would
be helpful then I encourage you to add such a page and link to it from
appropriate places.  The Developer FAQ actually does a reasonable job
and isn't difficult to find, at least from my point of view, but I don't
believe anyone would complain if further efforts were made to improve
it.

Thanks!

Stephen