Re: taking a break from Git

[Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>]

On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 11:38:25AM -0500, Jeff King wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I'm going to be offline and completely absent from the mailing list for
> five months starting at the end of December. After that, things are up
> in the air, but I may not be as involved in the project as I have been.
>
> Sorry, there's no juicy gossip or drama to share. I still like everyone,
> and think it's a cool project. ;) After 15 years, it just feels like
> it's time for a break and to perhaps apply my brain to something else
> for a while.

I am going to miss seeing patches and review from you tremendously.

As prolific as Peff has been on the mailing list for the past 15 years,
he has also spent a lot of effort behind the scenes at GitHub as my
manager. He has provided me invaluable guidance and mentorship over the
years, and given me the freedom to pick and choose interesting projects
to work on.

We were recently talking off-list about the projects that he and I have
worked on together, and I remarked that none of it really felt like
"work". I think it takes a special skill to create that environment for
people, and Peff certainly has that skill.

I am a better programmer and Git contributor directly because of Peff's
efforts. I am sure that anybody who has been fortunate enough to get
review or advice from Peff feels the same as I do.

> There are a couple logistical things related to this:
>
>   - I'm planning to step down from Git's Project Leadership Committee
>     (the entity that represents Git within Software Freedom Conservancy,
>     and which occasionally makes decisions on things like our project
>     funds or assets like the trademark).
>
>     That leaves Junio, Ævar, and Christian on the PLC, and the charter
>     calls for having at least 3 members. So I don't technically need to
>     be replaced, but maybe it's an opportunity for somebody else to get
>     involved.
>
>     We don't have a formal process here. The last discussion on adding
>     new members was this thread from a few years ago:
>
>       https://lore.kernel.org/git/20180816224138.GA15490@sigill.intra.peff.net/

I would be honored to serve on the PLC if that is something others would
be in favor of, too. I can talk a little bit about my background and
thoughts here in a separate thread from this one.

>   - I maintain the git-scm.com site (well, insofar as anybody does).
>     There are a few regulars who review and merge pull requests at
>     https://github.com/git/git-scm.com, but more help is always welcome
>     there.
>
>     The production parts of the site run on Heroku and Cloudflare. They
>     don't need touched often, though we do trigger a manual update and
>     flush the caches right after Junio releases, so that the site is
>     updated immediately.  The Git PLC has the necessary credentials for
>     those sites, though in practice I think I'm the only one there that
>     touched it. Taylor (cc'd) has been helping out with that and also
>     has access.

Yes, I have credentials to our Heroku and Cloudfare accounts, and (I
believe) write access to the git-scm.com repository on GitHub. So I can
help do some light triage there, and at least prevent the site from
bit-rotting.

I've been doing the post-release manual update and cache purging as part
of my usual release routine for the past several releases, so I don't
mind continuing to do that, either.

>   - I really am going to stop reading the list. Even if you cc me. So
>     please don't get mad if I don't review your patches, or respond to
>     bug reports. :)

Please do ;). Enjoy your well deserved time off, and thank you.

Taylor