[python-committers] number of active core devs [was: Comments on moving issues to GitHub]

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sun, Jun 03, 2018 at 12:44:55PM -0700, Brett Cannon wrote:

> I will admit that I think we lost some core devs who had zero exposure to
> GitHub prior to switching and never found the motivation to ramp up on the
> new workflow.

*raises hand*

I'm one of them. Not that I was a prolific core dev, but I did have 
commit priviliges.

I'm not a full-time programmer, and the discipline of using VCS does not 
come naturally to me. Without doing it daily, or even weekly, it always 
feels like friction rather than something helpful. (Intellectually, I 
understand the benefits, but emotionally it is another story.)

It took me a long while to get used to hg, and just when I had, we 
changed to git and everything I thought I knew was wrong :-)

Add to that some unrelated changes in my personal life, and my 
motivation to learn the new workflow dropped to not just zero but became 
negative. But I've keep up with the community, and I feel my motivation 
gradually increasing. It's now above zero and just waiting on me finding 
time :-)

(Given today's news about Microsoft and Github, I'll probably just learn 
the Github workflow in time for us to move to something different again 
*wink*)

Long ago, when we first started discussing this move, I asked if we had 
an objective measure of what would count as "success" in the move. I'm 
not sure I was ever answered, but given the motives expressed at the 
time ("make it easier to recruit core devs" I think was one of them) I 
don't think the move has been a complete success.

That's not to call it a failure: it clearly hasn't been that, and to 
those who know git and like github, it has clearly been a win for them. 
But I think it is important to acknowledge which of our goals were met 
and which were not.


-- 
Steve