From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-ASN: AS31976 209.132.180.0/23 X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.0 required=3.0 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,FREEMAIL_FORGED_FROMDOMAIN,FREEMAIL_FROM, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_HI, SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_NONE shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [209.132.180.67]) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id EDA481F463 for ; Thu, 19 Sep 2019 20:21:11 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S2404618AbfISUVL (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:21:11 -0400 Received: from mail-wm1-f66.google.com ([209.85.128.66]:35522 "EHLO mail-wm1-f66.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S2404612AbfISUVK (ORCPT ); Thu, 19 Sep 2019 16:21:10 -0400 Received: by mail-wm1-f66.google.com with SMTP id y21so5489259wmi.0 for ; Thu, 19 Sep 2019 13:21:08 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20161025; h=mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date:message-id:subject:to :cc; bh=+00f6t5LVPVdpt+CC2Ucd/8PNx6hrLmshFBez9sjQ2Q=; b=kMgI6KK7XoeCORpgZ/g2VZX7kTUkNM+zxU4w4O4AdRg98qYwPLrJLWDj7e+3mVsJEI z7a9DFvxC96Fk8qLSBIHpkZWdSefz3fHrD/q+zEXQu6lddVU1REZ10gpnP93U6LrwCF/ qI86YmyzrWlJUepz5sDiAUO+4+BaR6HJsU8CYwDcYZ2qKxS+Ct5STLMap8//aJ0xqN8V G/HlkWf/H9l87qkaSjWN4sTBM2pMinio4GUxhQaPO9qVU3Ch3FOcCuTj/ldTuhFiOG85 Y4dqap8U7mvOoT23+YFjfwsXh74iBdEBtWcJIJSY3IccofJzReew1zfswhT/zGzfrJJV YbUg== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date :message-id:subject:to:cc; bh=+00f6t5LVPVdpt+CC2Ucd/8PNx6hrLmshFBez9sjQ2Q=; b=VukLWgf8EmOzs0sUSQwh5hsD4ur4juLhzG4J9lbIkstK1H1DnyeG29IPNekBP1wxnE FYoNdpwAh3JNjzrRlcdTpK3fwYLedwzOrBxNX6BKlF1SJzPm/cGgwQtRsF4iPi03vE+x mE6HdVvRw39vJJpH2ehRKTxBoVXkUzj0PTnQStPN0vhKnPPSIdVoSUc/6RWiH8K4M+K3 8wfKO1geEX2LI4ALqFnzPnx1MziYPB11EaTbJuoxpvt9WekFj1+1NVievpuuPdmUT7U4 kWKdGi/0Uaz0ahCqQPdKeK8rHZazKrGxgRSankzMT3oV7ObmoG0clsClnJjX5oWBesIT xqiA== X-Gm-Message-State: APjAAAUiheElUgF6dR0kB0OLIcZddjPauy7WKpCIsskC89OdsZ9ivCBx 0G6HBaDouI7ar3W1azBetHzCrYmZ24ojn5tMZT8= X-Google-Smtp-Source: APXvYqxiLKEjXX9KmmUPY4vlUzKUqUReR1vi2/y2zjmfGkErm8r9bJId5pbE2Z7dvLsUJoPt2GBw0+V3lbFovyJJ620= X-Received: by 2002:a05:600c:1089:: with SMTP id e9mr4424933wmd.176.1568924467675; Thu, 19 Sep 2019 13:21:07 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <71fba9e7-6314-6ef9-9959-6ae06843d17a@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: From: Klaus Sembritzki Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2019 22:20:56 +0200 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [DISCUSSION] Growing the Git community To: Derrick Stolee Cc: "git@vger.kernel.org" , "peff@peff.net" , Emily Shaffer , Jonathan Nieder , Johannes Schindelin , "gitster@pobox.com" , garimasigit@gmail.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org I hereby instruct the German military to kill our harrassers. On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 9:12 PM Klaus Sembritzki wrote: > > Hello all, > > A game-theoretical insight, as the GIT mailing-list has just been > hacked: Such a move necessitates everyone to down-value the hackers' > intellects, if it was not a false-flag-operation. > > Cheers, > Klaus Sembritzki > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 8:44 PM Klaus Sembritzki wrote: > > > > Hello all, > > > > 1. Long texts stem from false (You can deduce anything from something > > that is wrong). > > 2. TL;DR is therefore sane. > > 3. (Inclusion & Diversity) is a tautology, it includes all of it. > > > > Cheers, > > Klaus Sembritzki > > > > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 8:35 PM Derrick Stolee wrote: > > > > > > During the Virtual Git Contributors' Summit, Dscho brought up the topic of > > > "Inclusion & Diversity". We discussed ideas for how to make the community > > > more welcoming to new contributors of all kinds. Let's discuss some of > > > the ideas we talked about, and some that have been growing since. > > > > > > Feel free to pick apart all of the claims I make below. This is based > > > on my own experience and opinions. It should be a good baseline > > > for us to all arrive with valuable action items. > > > > > > I have CC'd some of the people who were part of that discussion. Sorry > > > if I accidentally left someone out. > > > > > > I. Goals and Perceived Problems > > > > > > As a community, our number one goal is for Git to continue to be the best > > > distributed version control system. At minimum, it should continue to be > > > the most widely-used DVCS. Towards that goal, we need to make sure Git is > > > the best solution for every kind of developer in every industry. The > > > community cannot do this without including developers of all kinds. This > > > means having a diverse community, for all senses of the word: Diverse in > > > physical location, gender, professional status, age, and others. > > > > > > In addition, the community must continue to grow, but members leave the > > > community on a regular basis for multiple reasons. New contributors must > > > join and mature within the community or the community will dwindle. Without > > > dedicating effort and attention to this, natural forces may result in the > > > community being represented only by contributors working at large tech > > > companies focused on the engineering systems of very large groups. > > > > > > It is worth noting that this community growth must never be at the cost > > > of code quality. We must continue to hold all contributors to a high > > > standard so Git stays a stable product. > > > > > > Here are some problems that may exist within the Git community and may > > > form a barrier to new contributors entering: > > > > > > 1. Discovering how to contribute to Git is non-obvious. > > > > > > 2. Submitting to a mailing list is a new experience for most developers. > > > This includes the full review and discussion process. > > > > > > 3. The high standards for patch quality are intimidating to new contributors. > > > > > > 4. Some people do not feel comfortable engaging in a community without > > > a clear Code of Conduct. This discomfort is significant and based on real > > > experiences throughout society. > > > > > > 5. Since Git development happens in a different place than where users > > > acquire the end product, some are not aware that they can contribute. > > > > > > II. Approach > > > > > > The action items below match the problems listed above. > > > > > > 1. Improve the documentation for contributing to Git. > > > > > > In preparation for this email, I talked to someone familiar with issues > > > around new contributors, and they sat down to try and figure out how to > > > contribute to Git. The first place they went was https://github.com/git/git > > > and looked at the README. It takes deep reading of a paragraph to see a > > > link to the SubmittingPatches docs. > > > > > > To improve this experience, we could rewrite the README to have clearer > > > section markers, including one "Contributing to Git" section relatively > > > high in the doc. We may want to update the README for multiple reasons. > > > It should link to the new "My First Contribution" document > > > (https://git-scm.com/docs/MyFirstContribution). > > > > > > 2. Add more pointers to GitGitGadget > > > > > > We have a reference to GitGitGadget in the GitHub PR template to try and > > > get people who try to submit a pull request to git/git to instead create > > > one on GitGitGadget. However, that captures contributors who didn't read > > > the docs about how to submit! (This is somewhat covered by the "My First > > > Contribution" doc as well, so making that more visible will also help.) > > > > > > Could we reference GitGitGadget as part of the Submitting Patches doc > > > as well? > > > > > > 3. Introduce a new "mentors" mailing list > > > > > > From personal experience, all new contributors at Microsoft (after Jeff > > > Hostetler at least) have first had their patches reviewed privately by > > > the team before sending them upstream. Each time, the new contributor > > > gained confidence about the code and had help interpreting feedback from > > > the list. > > > > > > We want to make this kind of experience part of the open Git community. > > > > > > The idea discussed in the virtual summit was to create a new mailing > > > list (probably a Google group) of Git community members. The point of > > > the list is for a new contributor to safely say "I'm looking for a > > > mentor!" and the list can help pair them with a mentor. This must > > > include (a) who is available now? and (b) what area of the code are they > > > hoping to change? > > > > > > As evidence that this is a good idea, please see the recent research > > > paper ""We Don't Do That Here": How Collaborative Editing With Mentors > > > Improves Engagement in Social Q&A Communities" [1]. > > > > > > [1] http://www.chrisparnin.me/pdf/chi18.pdf > > > > > > When asking your first question on Stack Overflow, this group added > > > a pop-up saying "Would you like someone to help you with this?". Then, > > > a mentor would assist crafting the best possible question to ensure > > > the asker got the best response possible. > > > > > > I believe this would work in our community, too. The action items > > > are: > > > > > > a. Create the mailing list and add people to the list. > > > > > > b. Add a pointer to the list in our documentation. > > > > > > Note: the people on the mentoring list do not need to be > > > "senior" community members. In fact, someone who more recently > > > joined the community has a more fresh perspective on the process. > > > > > > 4. Add an official Code of Conduct > > > > > > So far, the community has had an unofficial policy of "be nice, > > > as much as possible". We should add a Code of Conduct that is > > > more explicit about the behavior we want to model. This was also > > > discussed in the meeting with wide approval. > > > > > > 5. Advertise that Git wants new contributors > > > > > > After we put items 1-4 in place, we should reach out to the > > > general tech community that we are interested in new > > > contributors. It's not enough to open the door, we should > > > point people to it. > > > > > > This item is much less explicit about the _how_. This could > > > be done at the individual level: posting to social media or > > > blog posts. But perhaps there is something more official we > > > could do? > > > > > > III. Measurement > > > > > > How do we know if any of these items make a difference? We > > > need to gather data and measure the effects. With the size > > > of our community, I expect that it will take multiple years > > > to really see a measurable difference. But, no time like > > > the present to ask "What does success look like?" > > > > > > Here are a few measurements that we could use. Each "count" > > > could be measured over any time frame. We could use major > > > releases as time buckets: v2.22.0 to v2.23.0, for example. > > > > > > 1. How many first-time contributors sent a patch? > > > > > > 2. How many contributors had their first commit accepted into > > > the release? > > > > > > 3. How many contributors started reviewing? > > > > > > 4. How many total patches/reviews did the list receive? > > > > > > What other measurements would be reasonable? We could try > > > building tools to collect these measurements for the past > > > to see historical trends. Based on that data, we may be > > > able to set goals for the future. > > > > > > With such a small community, and an expected small number > > > of new contributors, it may also be good to do interviews > > > with the new contributors to ask about their experience. > > > In particular, we would be looking for moments where they > > > had trouble or experience friction. Each of those > > > moments is a barrier that others may not be clearing. > > > > > > > > > I look forward to the discussion. > > > > > > Thanks, > > > -Stolee