On 22 July 2015 at 13:23, Nikolaus Rath <Nikolaus@rath.org> wrote:
If it were up to me, I'd focus all the resources of the PSF on reducing this backlog - be that by hiring some core developers to work full-time on just the open bugtracker issues, or by financing development of better code review and commit infrastructure.
From the "strange but true" files, it's also the case that growing the core developer community *isn't* actually the PSF's highest priority -
Ah, but the PSF can't do that without infringing on python-dev's autonomy - switching to my PSF Director's hat, while we'd certainly be prepared to help with funding a credible grant proposal for something like the Twisted technical fellowship, we wouldn't *impose* help that the core developers haven't asked for. That again bottlenecks on core developer time, though - figuring out how to reasonably run such a fellowship programme (especially the recruiting aspects) without alienating volunteers is yet another "hard community management problem". that honour goes to growing the Python *user* community, and the reference interpreter itself is only one aspect of that (while https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonSoftwareFoundation/Proposals/StrategicPri... is only a draft, it still gives a good guide as to the extent of the PSF's wider activities).
The current situation looks like a downward spiral to me. New contributors are frustrated and leave because they feel their contribution is not welcome, and core developers get burned out by the gigantic backlog and the interaction with frustrated patch submitters - thus further reducing the available manpower.
We actually still have a lot of paid core developer (and potential core developer) time locked up in facilitating the Python 2 -> 3 migration, as we didn't fully appreciate the extent to which Python had been adopted in the Linux ecosystem and elsewhere until folks started seeking help upgrading. Knowing that doesn't help in the near term, of course, but it does mean we know there's a relatively large pool of paid development time currently being directed elsewhere that may be brought more directly to bear upstream in the future. Regards, Nick. -- Nick Coghlan | ncoghlan@gmail.com | Brisbane, Australia