Subject: Re: Git in Outreachy December 2019?

From: Jeff King <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2019 13:00:03 -0400

On Sun, Sep 08, 2019 at 08:26:10PM +0530, Pratyush Yadav wrote:

> I'd like to put out a proposal regarding first contributions and micro 
> projects.
> 
> I have a small list of small isolated features and bug fixes that
> _I think_ git-gui would benefit with. And other people using it can 
> probably add their pet peeves and issues as well. My question is, are 
> these something new contributors should try to work on as an 
> introduction to the community? Since most of these features and fixes 
> are small and isolated, they should be pretty easy to work on. And I 
> think people generally find UI apps a little easier to work on.
> 
> But I'll play the devil's advocate on my proposal and point out some 
> problems/flaws:
> - Git-gui is written in Tcl, and git in C (and other languages too, but 
>   not Tcl). That means while people do get a feel of the community and 
>   general workflow, they don't necessarily get a feel of the actual git 
>   internal codebase.
> - Since I don't see a git-gui related project worth being into the 
>   Outreachy program, it essentially means they will likely not work on 
>   anything related to their project.
> - Git-gui is essentially a wrapper on top of git, so people won't get 
>   exposure to the git internals.
> 
> I'd like to hear your and the rest of the community's thoughts about 
> this proposal, and whether it will be a good idea or not.

Right, I came up with similar devil's advocate arguments. :) I'm not
totally opposed, because part of the point of these microprojects just
getting people familiar with interacting with the community and
submitting a patch. They're not always in the same area the intern
intends to work, just because there's not always a trivial problem to be
solved there.

So we do look at it mostly as a "can you do this basic test" test, and
not necessarily as a prelude to the project.

But it would be nice if it were at least in the same _language_ that the
ultimate project will be done in. Because we're evaluating the
applicant's ability to write code in that language, too.

So I dunno. I am on the fence.

-Peff