evening the entry bar: git account management

[A. Walton]

On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 3:24 PM, Aaron J. Seigo <aseigo at kde.org> wrote:
> i'm starting a new thread for this because it really is a parallel issue and i
> don't want to hijack Vincent's thread to discuss it
>
> On February 16, 2010, Daniel Stone wrote:
>> On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 10:21:02AM -0800, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
>> > On February 16, 2010, Vincent Untz wrote:
>> > > I learnt a few days ago that we finally have a xdg-specs git repo. So
>> > > let's move forward :-)
>> >
>> > great!
>> >
>> > now, how do people get push access to it? trolling around on
>> > http://www.freedesktop.org i couldn't find instructions on how to apply
>> > for an account or who would qualify for it.
>>
>> http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/AccountRequests -- incidentally, this is
>
> it's not linked to from:
>
>        http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/GettingInvolved
>
> but it is linked to from the next sentence in the paragraph on the main page.
> the linked sentence itself is: "See AccountRequests for information on how to
> obtain CVS access to a project." CVS?
>
> the text on AccountRequests is the opposite of friendly: "To obtain an account
> for a project hosted by freedesktop.org, you must follow these rules. Failure
> to do so will probably result in your request getting dropped on the floor.
> Don't take it personally if it does, the rules are there to make sure it
> doesn't happen, so if they aren't followed ..."
>
> that doesn't particularly make me want to get involved.
>
> the page doesn't describe who would qualify for an account or who i should
> consult to see i i might qualify (i've got to figure that part out for myself;
> ime, contributors rarely manage that on their own)
>
> the instructions are poor:
>
> "Create a bug asking for an account. Select the Product that corresponds to
> the Project for which you are requesting access. If there's no product in
> bugzilla for the project in question, file it against the freedesktop.org
> product, in the New Accounts component."
>
> there is no hint as to what to use as the title or the component; i assume
> that noticing requests for accounts happens by diligent people reading through
> all new bug reports? sounds like a system that lends itself to accidental
> failure?
>
> i'd like to do more than observe/complain, but i can't edit any of these pages
> because the wiki is locked down even when logged in. so, sorry about not doing
> something about the above.
>
> compare and contrast the AccountsRequest page with what we use in KDE:
>
>        http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute/Get_a_SVN_Account
>        https://sysadmin.kde.org/svnaccount/
>
> other projects, i'm sure, have similarly comprehensive solutions that we can
> also use as examples. i know we probably do not have the resources around fd.o
> to implement something very elaborate, but we can improve what we have now.
>
> as a start, can we unlock the website wiki for people who are logged in?
> how do wiki accounts get approved for editing, for that matter?
>
>> also aliased by:
>> http://www.google.com/search?q=new+account+freedesktop.org&btnI=I'm+Feeling
>> +Lucky
>
> using google as a replacement for discoverability on the project's own website
> isn't a great answer.
>
> the search on freedesktop.org does indeed work, though, for "account"; i
> should have tried that, sorry.
>
>> > how long does it take to get an account set up?
>>
>> Not long.
>
> how long is long?
> what is the policy on what is too long?

That page should read "Too Long", in all honesty.

I just got an account on Feb 1st, 2010 after requesting it Jan 7th,
2009. Thirteen months and a week delay.

Not a lot of faith left in this organization after a wait like that.

-A. Walton

>> > who is responsible for making this happen? (and hopefully it's more than
>> > one person)
>>
>> A few people.  Not me.
>
> where are these "few people" defined?
> what is the community accountability?
> how do they know if a request should get approved for a given product?
>
> in general, there is a lack of transparency that makes it more difficult than
> necessary to get a grasp on how to get involved (or even if one would want
> to).
>
> i would like to help fd.o document the processes better, improve the clarity o
> the website (starting with examining who can edit it) and re-assess how git
> accounts are handed.
>
> thoughts?
>
> --
> Aaron J. Seigo
> humru othro a kohnu se
> GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
>
> KDE core developer sponsored by Qt Development Frameworks
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