[Freeciv-Dev] Re: Submit patch again?

[Karl-Ingo Friese <kif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think this might be a quite healthy discussion. Hopefuly it
will bring up something good.

On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Reinier Post wrote:

> Many patches have been ignored in the last year; Thue at least rescued
> a few of them.  You can't blame Thue for not doing a job that nobody
> else is willing to do.

For sure. Thue did very much for the freeciv project and I think
no one questioned that. Or to speak only for myself: I never did.
However, I described my personal feelings when I submitted
ideas or code to the mailing list.

> The alternative is a change of policy: allow people to put their own
> patches in without any checking from others.

No. This is not the alternative. This is the other extreme -
thats a difference. Maybe there are better ways in between ?

> In the Freeciv project, there are no 10 others.  It's hard enough to
> find 10 people with patches.

Its hard enough because there is no feedback. The only few times
I got encouraging and positive response yet were from active players
- not from active freeciv developers. But no, thats not true. The
new player dialog would not have been possible without the help of
Vasco (thanX again).

> OK, this process could be streamlined by adding some web forms and better
> database support.  But the basic problem is: not enough people are willing
> to look at somebody else's code.  Am I wrong?

No ... I think the basic problem is that there is to less "hey, thats
a cool idea" or "this is already on our to do list but a little different
then the way you implemented it, look at section 3.1" or "I did
not like the idea because of xy" feedback. One of the reasons thatfor
might be that most freeciv developers/maintainers dont actively play
the game anymore. This making it hard to understand what a - maybe small
in code - change can enhance the game for the players. Just as an example:
The citymindist change brought _way_ more fun to our local LAN games then
the veteran system. The second was more complicated and enhanced our games
as well, but nothing compared to the first.

> I can be a reviewer for a small part of the code base.  I'm also willing
> to help set up some web/database support.

Sounds good! How about bringing some of the most active players into the
"official maintainer team" as well? Just for their point of view?

Ingo

-- 

Karl-Ingo Friese
kif@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx