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digitalmars.D - [spec] Is the process for updating the spec working?

reply Dibyendu Majumdar <mobile majumdar.org.uk> writes:
I have a small update that is languishing for weeks.

I also see other updates that are pending.

It puzzles me why this is the case.

It seems to me there should be one person responsible for 
accepting changes and applying them, and not have to wait for 
random reviews and comments. So who owns the spec, and why isn't 
the owner stepping up?
Jul 04 2019
parent reply Jonathan M Davis <newsgroup.d jmdavisprog.com> writes:
On Thursday, July 4, 2019 5:58:17 PM MDT Dibyendu Majumdar via Digitalmars-d 
wrote:
 I have a small update that is languishing for weeks.

 I also see other updates that are pending.

 It puzzles me why this is the case.

 It seems to me there should be one person responsible for
 accepting changes and applying them, and not have to wait for
 random reviews and comments. So who owns the spec, and why isn't
 the owner stepping up?
That's not really how things tend to work around here (maybe it should be, but it isn't). There are code owners for modules in druntime and Phobos in the sense that it's set up so that github will bug certain people to review stuff in those modules based on who's worked on them, but for most modules, there isn't a true owner. Nicholas Wilson has been paid to act as the review manage for pull requests to try and keep things moving along, but other people really need to be reviewing stuff in addition to him, which doesn't always happen as often as it should. As for the spec, I don't know that we even have it set up to notify specific people about PRs for particular pages like we do with modules in druntime and Phboos. Certainly, there is no one person who "owns" the spec. There's also the issue of how much Walter needs to be involved with spec changes. Something that clearly improves the spec without really changing what it's saying should be reviewable by a lot of different people, but anything that starts actually changing the semantics could require Walter - or at least, I don't think that it's clear when it would or wouldn't. And if Walter's approval is required that could become a bottleneck. In general though, I suspect that you're just suffering from the general problem we have in that we aren't getting enough people reviewing PRs, so too many PRs languish in the queue, and the spec is something that a lot fewer people are going to be willing to mess with, so it probably suffers even more than the other projects. - Jonathan M Davis
Jul 04 2019
parent Dibyendu Majumdar <mobile majumdar.org.uk> writes:
On Friday, 5 July 2019 at 05:56:31 UTC, Jonathan M Davis wrote:
 Certainly, there is no one person who "owns" the spec.
That's strange. Surely the language designers own it.
 There's also the issue of how much Walter needs to be involved 
 with spec changes. Something that clearly improves the spec 
 without really changing what it's saying should be reviewable 
 by a lot of different people, but anything that starts actually 
 changing the semantics could require Walter - or at least, I 
 don't think that it's clear when it would or wouldn't.
This is subjective as any change could be deemed semantic. How does one decide if something isn't really changing the spec? Anyway, I have a feeling next D Conf again there will talk of fixing the spec. Regards
Jul 05 2019