On 25 May 2018 at 04:09, Ned Deily <nad@python.org> wrote:
On May 24, 2018, at 13:46, Larry Hastings <larry@hastings.org> wrote:
> On 05/24/2018 10:08 AM, Ned Deily wrote:
>> If you (or anyone else) feels strongly enough about it, you should re-open the issue now and make it as a "release blocker" and we should discuss the implications and possible plans of action in the issue.
>
> About that.  According to the Python Dev Guide:
> Whether a bug is a *release blocker* for the current release schedule is decided by the release manager. Triagers may recommend this priority and should add the release manager to the nosy list.
>
> https://devguide.python.org/triaging/#priority
> Of course, a particular release manager (e.g. Ned here) can change the policy for their releases.  But by default, unless you're the release manager for release X, you should not mark issues as "Release Blocker" for release X.  This seems like a sensible policy to me, and effective immediately I'm going to hold to this policy for my releases (3.4 and 3.5).

I think we're reading the same words a bit differently.  There's no question that the Release Manager makes the ultimate call whether an issue remains a "Release Blocker" or not.  But it seems to me that the safest and most reliable way to ensure that the Release Manager makes that decision is by having a triager or submitter *provisionally* set the priority to "release blocker".  It is then on the Release Manager's radar to accept or reject.  I think that policy is totally in the spirit of the Dev Guide wording but I'm fine with other release managers accepting differing interpretations for their releases ;)

Right, my interpretation of that policy has been that to request RM review of a potential blocker I should:

- set the status to Release Blocker
- add the relevant RM to the nosy list
- add a comment explaining why I think it might be a release blocker and asking the RM to take a look it at

The RM then makes their decision by either commenting to say they're accepting the issue as a blocker, bumping it down to deferred blocker (if they don't think it's a blocker *yet*), or else bumping it down to one of the non-blocking priorities (if they don't agree that it's a blocker at all).

Cheers,
Nick.

--
Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan@gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia