[Numpy-discussion] Numpy governance update

[Benjamin Root]

On Wednesday, February 15, 2012, Mark Wiebe <mwwiebe at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 4:57 PM, <josef.pktd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 7:27 PM, Dag Sverre Seljebotn
> <d.s.seljebotn at astro.uio.no> wrote:
>> On 02/15/2012 02:24 PM, Mark Wiebe wrote:
>>> On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 1:36 PM, Matthew Brett <matthew.brett at gmail.com
>>> <mailto:matthew.brett at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     Hi,
>>>
>>>     On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 12:55 PM, Mark Wiebe <mwwiebe at gmail.com
>>>     <mailto:mwwiebe at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>      > On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 12:09 PM, Matthew Brett
>>>     <matthew.brett at gmail.com <mailto:matthew.brett at gmail.com>>
>>>      > wrote:
>>>      >>
>>>      >> Hi,
>>>      >>
>>>      >> On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Benjamin Root <ben.root at ou.edu
>>>     <mailto:ben.root at ou.edu>> wrote:
>>>      >> >
>>>      >> >
>>>      >> > On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 1:32 PM, Alan G Isaac
>>>     <alan.isaac at gmail.com <mailto:alan.isaac at gmail.com>>
>>>      >> > wrote:
>>>      >> >> Can you provide an example where a more formal
>>>      >> >> governance structure for NumPy would have meant
>>>      >> >> more or better code development? (Please do not
>>>      >> >> suggest the NA discussion!)
>>>      >> >>
>>>      >> >
>>>      >> > Why not the NA discussion?  Would we really want to have that
>>>     happen
>>>      >> > again?
>>>      >> > Note that it still isn't fully resolved and progress still
>>>     needs to be
>>>      >> > made
>>>      >> > (I think the last thread did an excellent job of fleshing out
>>>     the ideas,
>>>      >> > but
>>>      >> > it became too much to digest.  We may need to have someone go
>>>     through
>>>      >> > the
>>>      >> > information, reduce it down and make one last push to bring it
>>>     to a
>>>      >> > conclusion).  The NA discussion is the perfect example where a
>>>      >> > governance
>>>      >> > structure would help resolve disputes.
>>>      >>
>>>      >> Yes, that was the most obvious example. I don't know about you,
>>>     but I
>>>      >> can't see any sign of that one being resolved.
>>>      >>
>>>      >> The other obvious example was the dispute about ABI breakage for
>>>     numpy
>>>      >> 1.5.0 where I believe Travis did invoke some sort of committee
to
>>>      >> vote, but (Travis can correct me if I'm wrong), the committee
was
>>>      >> named ad-hoc and contacted off-list.
>>>      >>
>>>      >> >
>>>      >> >>
>>>      >> >> Can you provide an example of what you might
>>>      >> >> envision as a "more formal governance structure"?
>>>      >> >> (I assume that any such structure will not put people
>>>      >> >> who are not core contributors to NumPy in a position
>>>      >> >> to tell core contributors what to spend their time on.)
>>>      >> >>
>>>
>
> This is very true, at the moment the number of people doing feature-work
within numpy purely in Python is similarly small and sporadic. Here's a
current example:
> https://github.com/numpy/numpy/pull/198
> Having such a small development core is one of the reasons it often takes
a while for such pull requests to get reviewed by someone, and a situation
Continuum and anyone else with resources to contribute can help improve.
One thing that's clear to me is that the current documentation on how to
contribute code, documentation, and other help to NumPy is lacking, and
this is something that needs improvement.
> An example I really like is LibreOffice's "get involved" page.
> http://www.libreoffice.org/get-involved/
> Producing something similar for NumPy will take some work, but I believe
it's needed.
> Cheers,
> Mark
>

+1000.  Each time I have submitted a pull request, I always had to ask
where the appropriate tests go.  I still haven't gotten my head around the
layout of the source tree, and my only saving grace has been 'git grep'.

It is the little things that can keep someone from contributing. Anything
to make this easier would be great.  Maybe a protege system might be nice?

Chuck ain't getting younger, ya'll!

Ben Root

P.S. - who knows? Maybe I will be one of those protoges depending on how my
new job unfolds.
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