Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [CORE TOPIC] Recruitment (Reviewers, Testers, Maintainers, Hobbyists)

[Julia Lawall <julia.lawall@lip6.fr>]

> All of these are the "simple" issues that really don't take long to
> resolve.  We have it documented in great detail on how to set up an
> email client, how to format the patch, and how to get everything right
> on the kernelnewbies.org site.  I also teach a class on this, one hour
> max is all it takes, unless you are at a company with a broken email
> system.  And then all bets are off, you better just install a Linux
> email server in the corner to resolve your email issues, just like all
> the major companies did (IBM, Intel, Microsoft, etc.)
>
> I applaud your attempt here, and don't want to stop you from working on
> it, but I think the real issue is having people actually look for the
> documentation and tools we already have created to do this.  If you make
> yet-another-tool, how are you going to advertise it any better than the
> existing tools/documentation are?

I agree that we have lots of very detailed documentation, but the process
is still a bit complex, and it is easy to make a mistake before one gets a
feel for it.  Having an easy way to do everything in the normal way, but
have the email end up at some test address rather than in the inboxes of
maintainers could help people get started.  On the other hand, I'm not sure
that a web form would be helpful, unless there is the expectation that some
peope would never use anything other than the web form.  There doesn't seem
to be a clear pathway from the web form to email.

julia