Re: [boost] Git permissions model

Subject: Re: [boost] Git permissions model
From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2013-12-04 09:04:08

On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 12:55 AM, Andrey Semashev
<andrey.semashev_at_[hidden]>wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Agustín K-ballo Bergé
> <kaballo86_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> > On 04/12/2013 01:44 a.m., Vladimir Prus wrote:
> >> - Suppose I find a random typo in library X. In SVN, I can just fix it
> >> within a minute.
> >>    In Git, I would have to either ask for push access (which I think
> >> won't scale), or
> >>    I need to fork the repo, to the change, and submit a pull request,
> >> which is equally
> >>    cumbersome. Was not Git supposed to simplify things?
> >
> >
> > True, that's the recommended procedure. Note however that you can edit
> the
> > file "in-place" from github, and it will take care of the fork and pull
> > request for you. All you need to do is edit the file on a web form.
>
> That has the drawback that you (the pull request submitter) don't
> verify that the change is valid. I already got hit by this once in my
> very short experience with github.
>

Yes, that's a well-know problem with pull requests. They can put a polished
veneer over a totally bogus patch.

Regardless of version control system and how pretty a package the patch
comes in, a library maintainer needs to vet patches carefully. Is
sufficient motivation provided? Are they accompanied by test cases? Do they
include any required documentation changes? Will they work across all
supported platforms? Is the code itself OK? Etc. Etc. Etc.

--Beman