Re: attach ticket to package?

Responding to Dan and Nicola...

This remains rather academic. However I have been thinking
about whether Google code itself could be used in an easily
magageable way, and perhaps it could, so it is not
*entirely* academic.

First, I take a core objection to be that *requiring* the
use of SVN would be a barrier. SVN is a version control
system, but times have changed, and it is entirely user
friendly. There are even GUI versions for users afraid of
the command line. This is truly a minimal barrier. But ok,
don't require it. The archive would of course exist as
always, and package maintainers could decide whether to
participate in the new system.

Concerns about stability: submission of a patch does not
imply its acceptance. Each package would still have
a maintainer, who has no new obligations. So as far as
I can see, this is a non-issue. What is new for the
maintainer is a clear record of the changes proposed or
requested by users, and whether these were accpted,
rejected, or remain outstanding. Additionally, of course,
the maintainer (and the community) gains a record of any
actual changes the maintainer makes to the code.

About mirrors: the archive would still exist and be
mirrored. The SVN repository would not be mirrored.
So this is I think a nonissue.

About updating existing packages so that they "conform":
this is as far as I can see a nonissue. No new conformance
requirements are created.

About the current contact arrangements: well Dan and Nicola
are responding here so of course they are accessible and
view the issues of accessibility as adequately addressed.
But my experience as a user is really quite different.
Figuring out how to contact package maintainers proves
painful and often impossible. When it is impossible and
reported on this list the response is, well, one can always
ask to take over as maintainer. (Great; when all I want to
do is submit a patch.) Sometimes contact is possible and
the fix is even "accepted" but then the maintainer does not
find time to actually apply it. (And I am not talking about
big changes.) In at least one case I found a hard to fix
bug and because private contact is encouraged the entire
conversation was private, the bug was not fixed last
I checked, and there is no public record of the discussion.
This really sucks and is counterproductive for the
community.

I hope that addresses the core concerns and underscores the motivation.

Cheers,
Alan Isaac
.