Hi,
(My apologies if there is already a discussion / page about this - haven't found it after searching).
I have been doing some application reviews once in a while, dating back to the CVS era. Back then all feedback was given in the application issue.
But since Git sandboxes have been introduced, I have been mostly doing the review of project applications in the form of issues in the sandbox queue itself (with a mentioning of that in the applicant issue). However I just started wondering if this is indeed the best way, and upon watching what other reviewers do, I notice it's currently a bit a mix of both...
I do see some pro's and contra's here. Do you have other valid points that would make one or the other better practice?
In the application issue
PRO:
- easier for quick feedback, such as 'string' => t('string')
- easier to follow the process / progress of the application (not sure about this though)
CONTRA:
- more difficult for issues that trigger a discussion. Simple fixes get intermingled with these higher level discussions
- might seem overwhelming to the applicant in case of lots of feedback
- not possible to indicate the importance of a review item (e.g. reporting minor issues / improvements that would be nice if they got solved, but not blocking the promotion to full project)
In the sandbox issue queue
PRO:
- gets applicants directly familiar with the Drupal processes of feedback
- easier to submit patches if reviewers want to do so as part of a mentoring effort
- indicating importance of review item (see above)
CONTRA:
- more hassle to give feedback on small issues, unless they are combined in a meta issue (e.g. "Module should apply to coding standards")
- less clear what the current status of the application is; moving back and forth between application issue & queue
What are your thoughts on this? Should we have a recommended way of working (even if it's a mix of application issue & sandbox queue), or should reviewers just decide for themselves what is best (as to not to scare them away :))
Comments
The community was a little
The community was a little bit split on this one (for the same reasons you identified above). I believe the only consensus we've reached regarding a 'best practice' for issue queue application reviews is that, if you're leveraging the project issue queue for your review (which is a completely valid approach), you should add a comment to the project application issue to let the applicant and other reviewers know that a 'review' issue has been opened.