Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 0/1] services: network-manager: Add extra-configuration-files field.

From: Attila Lendvai <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 13:47:40 +0000

> > this patch failed to get any attention in two weeks
>
>
> Two weeks isn't a long time in free software projects. A more common
> time frame would be between one year and eighteen months.

...and with such a delay most patches bitrot beyond recognition, then after one too many burdensome rebase the contributor gives up, and then the whole thing gets forgotten.

or an alternative reading of this is that this process selects for contributors who are willful enough about that specific patch to push it through the finish line of such a marathon.

in my opensource experience 1+ year is nowhere near the average, especially not for patches with a localized effect.

unfortunately, i only have a vague/vapourware proposal to resolve this, which is to develop better support for channels, and then allow a thousand flowers to bloom (i.e. allow/facilitate the division of labor). it's not necessarily a safe/simple/straightforward path forward, but it would solve the bottleneck of the central control.

but either way, i wanted to speak up against normalizing 1+ years of delays.

--
• attila lendvai
• PGP: 963F 5D5F 45C7 DFCD 0A39
--
“Action has meaning only in relationship; without understanding relationship, action on any level will only breed conflict. The understanding of relationship is infinitely more important than the search for any plan of action.”
	— Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), 'Relationship', Colombo Ceylon 2nd radio talk (1950)