[Python-Dev] Encouraging developers

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Titus Brown schrieb:
> Hi, I just wanted to interject -- when I used the word "mafia", I meant
> it in this sense:
> 
> """
> Informal. A tightly knit group of trusted associates, as of a political
> leader: [He] is one of the personal mafia that [the chancellor]
> brought with him to Bonn.
> """
> 
> (Martin, I certainly didn't intend to offend anyone by implying that
> they were part of a criminal organization. ;)

Apology accepted. As to your specific comments:

 > there's definitely a group of "trusted associates" -- committers,
 > perhaps?

Yes, but not all of the committers are part of the "mafia", i.e.
some never review any patches. Also, the "mafia" isn't
"tightly nit". I.e. they don't have a hidden agenda they follow,
to implement a political quest or some such.

 > and it's not at all clear to outsiders like me how new
 > features, old patches, and old bugs are dealt with.

The simple answer is "when we have time". There really is not
more to it. Some patches get higher attention, e.g. because
they fix serious bugs. Proposed new features of don't get any
attention by the "mafia", because Python will just work fine
without the new feature.

 > Much of the discussion on this issue of encouraging developers comes
 > down to communicating better with non-python-dev people.

This is a two-sided thing, of course. The non-python-dev people
should also communicate with the python-dev ones, instead of
forming false (and unconfirmed) assumptions on how things
really work. It's easy to assume conspiracy everywhere, much
harder to understand that the people you are interacting with
are regular humans who contribute to open source for the same
reasons as the next guy.

Regards,
Martin