[llvm-dev] RFC: Improving the experience of first-time contributors

[Alex Bradbury via llvm-dev]

On 1 November 2016 at 16:42, Mehdi Amini <mehdi.amini at apple.com> wrote:
> Have you seen this past discussion:
> http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/2016-March/097027.html
> I think the main idea has been to set-up a regular IRC session dedicated to
> “new contributors”.

Thanks. I don't think I had looked at that discussion in detail.

> I don’t believe it is exact, unless you used “code owner” in a broader sense
> that what we mean usually with CODE_OWNERS.txt ; as you can see here:
> http://llvm.org/docs/DeveloperPolicy.html#code-owners "The sole
> responsibility of a code owner is to ensure that a commit to their area of
> the code is appropriately reviewed, either by themself or by someone else."
> You may need a sign-off from a “core contributor” well aware of the
> particular area you’re touching. And even that depends on the level of the
> changes: a small bug fix is less involved than something that requires large
> change or involves some design.

Yes, I simply meant in a broader sense - just like the example you
give below of getting sign-off from Chandler for the pass manager.


> I hope the “group of volunteers” will be well aware of LLVM and be able to
> spot when they need to pull-in someone else for a particular review (e.g. an
> important change in the new pass manager is likely to require Chandler to
> sign-off).

I agree, it is an easily solved problem. Just something I thought I'd
highlight. Another reason for mentioning it is that if the fundamental
issue is that code owners who are needed to provide sign-off are
fundamentally too busy to review, then having this 'first responder'
team won't help in those cases.

Best,

Alex