Patch abstracts in the Commitfest app
While reading through and working with the hundreds of patches in the CF app a
small feature/process request struck me: it would be really helpful if the
patch had a brief abstract outlining what it aims to add or fix (or summary,
description or something else; not sure what to call it). Basically a
two-sentence or so version of the email posting the patch to -hackers.
The "title" field isn't always explanatory enough, and diving into a long
thread to piece together clues can be quite daunting. I'm especially thinking
about new contributors who would like to contribute but who have a hard time
finding something in the CF app (which is a complaint I've heard from multiple
such contributors).
It should be a free-form textfield, and only apply to new submissions to avoid
a need to backfill. The field should, IMHO, be mandatory. The implementation
can be left to discussion on -www iff this list agrees that it would be a good
thing.
Thoughts?
--
Daniel Gustafsson https://vmware.com/
On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 8:51 PM Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se> wrote:
While reading through and working with the hundreds of patches in the CF app a
small feature/process request struck me: it would be really helpful if the
patch had a brief abstract outlining what it aims to add or fix (or summary,
description or something else; not sure what to call it). Basically a
two-sentence or so version of the email posting the patch to -hackers.The "title" field isn't always explanatory enough, and diving into a long
thread to piece together clues can be quite daunting. I'm especially thinking
about new contributors who would like to contribute but who have a hard time
finding something in the CF app (which is a complaint I've heard from multiple
such contributors).It should be a free-form textfield, and only apply to new submissions to avoid
a need to backfill. The field should, IMHO, be mandatory. The implementation
can be left to discussion on -www iff this list agrees that it would be a good
thing.
+1 for the idea. Not sure if that should be mandatory though, as some
simple entries should be self explanatory. Really this is mainly
helpful for long and lengthy threads, when people start to ask a
summary of the situation, so it should be editable and maybe
automatically generates an email on the thread when that happens.
On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 01:51:28PM +0100, Daniel Gustafsson wrote:
While reading through and working with the hundreds of patches in the CF app a
small feature/process request struck me: it would be really helpful if the
patch had a brief abstract outlining what it aims to add or fix (or summary,
description or something else; not sure what to call it). Basically a
two-sentence or so version of the email posting the patch to -hackers.
This seems fine ; that purpose is partially served (and duplicated) by the
patch commit messages (if used).
Actually, it's already possible to add an "annotation" to a given message-id.
I've just added this here: https://commitfest.postgresql.org/35/2800/
I think this that feature is rarely used, but I can see the value in using it
more, for long threads.
If you really wanted to make an "abstract" not associated with any message-id,
I think it would be implemented simply by removing the restriction that an
message-id must be specified and must match an existing message in the thead.
--
Justin
On 12 Nov 2021, at 15:24, Justin Pryzby <pryzby@telsasoft.com> wrote:
On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 01:51:28PM +0100, Daniel Gustafsson wrote:
While reading through and working with the hundreds of patches in the CF app a
small feature/process request struck me: it would be really helpful if the
patch had a brief abstract outlining what it aims to add or fix (or summary,
description or something else; not sure what to call it). Basically a
two-sentence or so version of the email posting the patch to -hackers.This seems fine ; that purpose is partially served (and duplicated) by the
patch commit messages (if used).
That's the problem, many patches are in diff format and don't have commit
messages at all. There are also many entries with patchsets containing
multiple patches and thus commitmessages but the app will only link to one.
Actually, it's already possible to add an "annotation" to a given message-id.
I've just added this here: https://commitfest.postgresql.org/35/2800/I think this that feature is rarely used, but I can see the value in using it
more, for long threads.
I consider this feature very valuable, but I don't see it as a replacement for
a text field Abstract in the patch entry.
--
Daniel Gustafsson https://vmware.com/
On 11/12/21, 4:53 AM, "Daniel Gustafsson" <daniel@yesql.se> wrote:
While reading through and working with the hundreds of patches in the CF app a
small feature/process request struck me: it would be really helpful if the
patch had a brief abstract outlining what it aims to add or fix (or summary,
description or something else; not sure what to call it). Basically a
two-sentence or so version of the email posting the patch to -hackers.
+1
Nathan
On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 03:36:43PM +0100, Daniel Gustafsson wrote:
On 12 Nov 2021, at 15:24, Justin Pryzby <pryzby@telsasoft.com> wrote:
On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 01:51:28PM +0100, Daniel Gustafsson wrote:
While reading through and working with the hundreds of patches in the CF app a
small feature/process request struck me: it would be really helpful if the
patch had a brief abstract outlining what it aims to add or fix (or summary,
description or something else; not sure what to call it). Basically a
two-sentence or so version of the email posting the patch to -hackers.This seems fine ; that purpose is partially served (and duplicated) by the
patch commit messages (if used).That's the problem, many patches are in diff format and don't have commit
messages at all. There are also many entries with patchsets containing
multiple patches and thus commitmessages but the app will only link to one.
Probably encouraging to use cover letters, generated for such patch
series and linked by the CF app, would be a good idea?
Julien Rouhaud <rjuju123@gmail.com> writes:
On Fri, Nov 12, 2021 at 8:51 PM Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se> wrote:
It should be a free-form textfield, and only apply to new submissions to avoid
a need to backfill. The field should, IMHO, be mandatory. The implementation
can be left to discussion on -www iff this list agrees that it would be a good
thing.
+1 for the idea. Not sure if that should be mandatory though, as some
simple entries should be self explanatory.
Yeah, there are plenty of entries for which the title seems adequate.
No objection to making room for an additional optional description,
though.
Really this is mainly
helpful for long and lengthy threads, when people start to ask a
summary of the situation, so it should be editable and maybe
automatically generates an email on the thread when that happens.
Editable certainly, but I don't think we want any auto-generated mail.
regards, tom lane
On 11/12/21 7:51 AM, Daniel Gustafsson wrote:
It should be a free-form textfield, and only apply to new submissions to avoid
a need to backfill. The field should, IMHO, be mandatory. The implementation
can be left to discussion on -www iff this list agrees that it would be a good
thing.
+1.
The patch title is often not enough to tell what the patch does, and
patches also change over time. The abstract may also be helpful to the
committer when generating a commit message.
Regards,
--
-David
david@pgmasters.net