% Github Pull Requests?
% Gabriel Scherer
% OCaml Workshop, Göteborg, Sep 5 2014

# Motivation

## The problem

Most OCaml development happens through mantis:

- users report bugs, request features, or propose patches
- sometimes a developper works on a PR
- a release each year, with some bugs fixed and some new features

Serious bugs get fixed, features are mostly ignored. Patches sometimes ignored (very bad!).

*Problem*: we need more people to review patches -- and reject features.

## The proposal

Users have been complaining about Mantis.
Would using a fancier tool help get more external reviews?

Proposal: we'll accept Github Pull Request for 6 (8?) months.

(Disclaimer: I dislike github.)

Gabriel will do the work of keeping stuff in sync. (hmm...)

What are the results?

# Results so far

## Unrelated upward trend

The 4.02 release has more stuff, but it's probably independent of Github.

<img src="chart.png" />

## Positive

New contributions: 18 (probably around 30%)

New reviews: 18 (probably around 100%). Yay!

Github attracted a new crowd -- but isn't this pool limited?

## Neutral

Some GPRs (10%) were handled very quickly
(small fixes, small changes; small is good).

Developpers meeting help taking decisions. We need more of them.

GPR patches are most effective during initla development:
*before* the feature freeze.

## Negative -- to improve

I flunked the mantis reporting -- but it probably doesn't matter much.

Used mostly by "git maintainers", very little by "SVN maintainers" --
related to the above?

To be effective, external users should be told more about the
development cycle.

Is this process Gabriel-bound?

## Some names

*Patches:*
Nicolas Braud-Santoni,
Romain Calabiscetta,
Simon Cruanes,
Thomas Gazagnaire,
Grégoire Henri,
Hugo Heuzard,
Sergei Lebedev,
Evgenii Lepikhin,
Gabriel Radanne,
Jérôme Vouillon,
Yotam Barnoy,  
Frédéric Bour,
Jacques-Pascal Deplaix,  
Peter Zotov

**Reviews:**
Hezekiah Carty,
Pierre Chambart,
Jacques-Pascal Deplaix,
Anil Madhavapeddy,
Benedikt Meurer,
Christophe Troestler,
Jérôme Vouillon,
Thomas Refis,  
Ben Noordhuis,
Jeremy Yallop,  
Daniel Bünzli,
François Bobot

Thanks!                           (Discussion)

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