docs/80681: articles/problem-reports: don't tell people they should sumbit a PR each time they see an outdated port

[Ion-Mihai Tetcu]

On Sun, 8 May 2005 12:17:08 +0200
Roman Neuhauser <neuhauser at sigpipe.cz> wrote:

> # itetcu at people.tecnik93.com / 2005-05-07 12:22:26 +0300:
> > The only reason for "outdated announce" PR is that maybe someday someone
> > other that a commiter (as a commiter is busy enough) will start looking
> > in the PR database for something to do; now we all know how interested
> > is the mythical Someone to do just that. IMO the practical value of this
> > PR equals zero (even less since they generate supplementary work for the
> > commiters - and the typical wait time for a non-commiter maintainer
> > update is about a week this days).
> > 
> > Now if the port is maintained, to have a PR announcing you there's a new
> > version is usually frustrating: you know there's a new version, you
> > probably have worked with the developer on it, you're probably testing
> > to see there's no regression, etc. So this kind of PRs do the same good
> > as a simple email (which can be useful if you maintain a large number of
> > ports or for the ports that are updated rarely - I use a monthly cron
> > job to remind me of them).
> 
>     I used the above text as a base for this patch; I haven't tested
>     it compiles.
> 
> Index: en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/article.sgml
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /home/ncvs/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/article.sgml,v
> retrieving revision 1.36
> diff -u -u -r1.36 article.sgml
> --- en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/article.sgml	15 Jan 2005 02:16:42 -0000	1.36
> +++ en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/problem-reports/article.sgml	8 May 2005 10:11:30 -0000
> @@ -107,6 +107,20 @@
>  	  software (mainly ports, but also externally maintained base
>  	  system components such as BIND or various GNU
>  	  utilities).</para>
> +    <para>For unmaintained ports (<makevar>MAINTAINER</makevar> contains
> +      <literal>ports at FreeBSD.org</literal>), such update notifications
> +      might get picked up by an interested
> +      committer, or you might be asked to provide a patch to update
> +      the port; providing it upfront will greatly improve your chances
> +      that the port will get updated in a timely manner.</para>
> +    <para>If the port is maintained, PRs announcing new upstream releases
> +      are usually not very useful since they generate supplementary work
> +      for the commiters, and the maintainer likely knows already there's
> +      a new version, they have probably worked with the developers on it,
> +      they're probably testing to see there's no regression, etc.</para>
> +    <para>In either case, following the process described in <ulink
> +      url="&url.books.porters-handbook;/port-upgrading.html">Porter's
> +      Handbook</ulink> will yield the best results.</para>
>        </listitem>
>      </itemizedlist>

I'd say it better that my original and should be committed.

-- 
IOnut
Unregistered ;) FreeBSD "user"