[core-workflow] Adding a "requires C" keyword?

[Ezio Melotti]

Hi,

On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 4:23 PM, Nick Coghlan <ncoghlan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Chatting to an experienced C/C++ developer at PyCon AU today, they
> were worried that their *Python* skills might not be good enough to
> contribute to CPython. It reminded me of an idea I had a while ago,
> but forgot to suggest: adding a keyword specifically to indicate
> issues that require some C coding.
>
> My main rationale is that there are some issues that are likely to be
> pretty easy *if you already know C*. Adding the extra keyword means we
> can mark:
>
> - easy Python only issues (just the 'easy' keyword)
> - easy C or C+Python issues ('easy' and 'requires C' keywords)
> - tricky Python only issues (no keywords)
> - trick C or C+Python issues (just the 'requires C' keyword)
>
> I'm not particularly enamoured of that specific keyword name, so I'm
> interested in two specific kinds of feedback:
>
> 1. Does the extra keyword sound useful?

The request seems reasonable to me, even though any keyword we add
makes the triaging (slighly) more complex and this causes several
problems (more difficult to see/set keywords without scrolling through
a longish list, increasing the chances that users will ignore the
field if it looks too complicated, etc.)

Note that it should be already possible to identify most of the C
issues by looking at issues with components "Interpreter core" and
"Extension Modules".  This could become a new query.

In addition to C and Python, we also have rst that is also
indicated/implied by the "Documentation" and "Devguide" components.
Throwing rst in the mix makes things even more complicated though, and
a new "languages" field would add more problems than it would solve.

Considering more effective ways to find/filter issues might also be
more effective than adding additional metadata.

Best Regards,
Ezio Melotti

> 2. Any other suggestions for a name?
>
> Cheers,
> Nick.
>
> --
> Nick Coghlan   |   ncoghlan at gmail.com   |   Brisbane, Australia