Re: contributing to Emacs

[Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: "Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide" <arne_bab@web.de>
>> Cc: "Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@gnu.org>, eliz@gnu.org, luangruo@yahoo.com,
>>  emacs-devel@gnu.org
>> Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2023 10:59:42 +0200
>> 
>> > And then if that's not enough, from what I've seen maintainers also
>> > expect you to have read CONTRIBUTE section, which is absolutely large,
>> > much bigger than "Sending patches". (to be fair, if you are a new
>> > contributor, you won't know it exists because "Sending patches" has no
>> > mention of it).
>> 
>> Same here. I see quite a bit of explanation in the CONTRIBUTE file that
>> makes that longer than the information a contributor really has to know.
>
> People keep asking for more and more details to be described there, so
> what you expect doesn't stand the test of time and user expectations.

What would you do if CONTRIBUTING were a user interface? Would you
include every idea someone has?

> It is clear that you personally may not need everything there, but
> CONTRIBUTE is not for you and me, or others like we.

For whom *is* CONTRIBUTE?

>> For a github project (to name the elefant in the room) you also have to
>> know the URL, but there it feels easier. Can we make that easier in the
>> existing infrastructure?
>
> Type "gnu emacs" into an Internet search window.  The first result
> will likely to be the Emacs site.  Click on "Documentation & Support"
> and read there.  How hard is that?
>
> Are we perhaps making a mountain out of a proverbial molehill?

I don’t think so. I consider this a writing problem. But do see my other
email with a concrete description and proposal how to package the
information needed for contributing in a way that makes it much easier
to take in.

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de

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