[news.groups] Posting Patches; Was Patch frequency

kent@ssbell.UUCP (Kent Landfield) (05/18/89)

In article <340@ubbs-nh.MV.COM> noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel B. Del More  Nashua) writes:
>In article <bahx024m26XB01@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> paf@uts.amdahl.com (Paul A. Fronberg) writes:
>>
>>One is that the patches may not be posted in a commonly read newsgroup.
>
>Quite true, and a royal pain as well!  
>
>>I claim that all offical patches should be issued through the moderated source
>>group that the program was originally posted. This would allow easier
>>administration of fixes and put them in a known group.
>
>This is an idea that has alot of merit.  While it would result  in  some
>inconvienence,  in  that  the  patch  would  have  to  pass  through the
>moderator resulting in some delay reaching the end user of the  program,
>it  would  introduce  some  degree  of  consistency  into the posting of
>patches.

It would also introduce the ability to archive the patches instead of
having to hunt for them or post requests to the net only to have your
spool directory swamped by the many good people that respond by sending
the requested patch.

>And it would also be nice if their was a companion "patch" newsgroup for
>each   of   the   newsgroups   to   which   sources   are   posted,  eg.
>"comp.sources.unix.p" or something similar.

This is probably overkill in that it would (if moderated groups) require
eight different moderators as the sources groups currently stand. There is
not enough patches traffic to really justify a patch newsgroup for each
sources group. 

>In summary, the advantages to posting patches to a  moderated  newsgroup
>are  consistency  of  format,  and absence of "chatter" in the newsgroup
>which in turn would allow archive sites to process these postings  in  a
>more efficient manner.

It would also allow the community at large the ability to retrieve patches
from the published archive sites. Currently its a matter of asking a
neighbor or posting a request to the net.

>The disadvantages are increased time for the posting to reach the end
>user. 

This is true of any source related/moderated group. I would *not* like
to see comp.sources.unix become unmoderated just to get the sources to
me faster. The moderators play an important role of increasing the quality
and consistency of postings.

>I'd be interested in hearing what others have to say about the  subject,
>is   the   idea  worth  further  investigation  and  possible  call  for
>discussion.

A Call for Discussion has already been initiated by myself for the creation
of the newsgroup comp.sources.patches. Judging by my mailbox, I am not
the only one who feels that the current "all over the place" posting of
patches is unacceptable. 

				-Kent+
----
Kent Landfield               UUCP:     kent@ssbell
Sterling Software FSG/IMD    INTERNET: kent%ssbell@uunet.uu.net
1404 Ft. Crook Rd. South     Phone:    (402) 291-8300 
Bellevue, NE. 68005-2969     FAX:      (402) 291-4362

dal@midgard.Midgard.MN.ORG (Dale Schumacher) (05/19/89)

In article <479@ssbell.UUCP> kent@ssbell.UUCP (ssbell Admin) writes:
|In article <340@ubbs-nh.MV.COM> noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel B. Del More  Nashua) writes:
|>And it would also be nice if their was a companion "patch" newsgroup for
|>each   of   the   newsgroups   to   which   sources   are   posted,  eg.
|>"comp.sources.unix.p" or something similar.
|
|This is probably overkill in that it would (if moderated groups) require
|eight different moderators as the sources groups currently stand. There is
|not enough patches traffic to really justify a patch newsgroup for each
|sources group. 

I agree that creating multiple patch groups at this time may not be the
best idea, however, a small name change would allow more flexibility in
future naming.  If the "comp.sources.patches" group was instead called
"comp.patches", it would open the door for a future "comp.patches.*"
tree which would properly parallel "comp.sources.*", "comp.sys.*", etc..

meissner@tiktok.dg.com (Michael Meissner) (05/23/89)

In article <963@midgard.Midgard.MN.ORG> dal@midgard.Midgard.MN.ORG (Dale Schumacher) writes:
| In article <479@ssbell.UUCP> kent@ssbell.UUCP (ssbell Admin) writes:
| |In article <340@ubbs-nh.MV.COM> noel@ubbs-nh.MV.COM (Noel B. Del More  Nashua) writes:
| |>And it would also be nice if their was a companion "patch" newsgroup for
| |>each   of   the   newsgroups   to   which   sources   are   posted,  eg.
| |>"comp.sources.unix.p" or something similar.
| |
| |This is probably overkill in that it would (if moderated groups) require
| |eight different moderators as the sources groups currently stand. There is
| |not enough patches traffic to really justify a patch newsgroup for each
| |sources group. 
| 
| I agree that creating multiple patch groups at this time may not be the
| best idea, however, a small name change would allow more flexibility in
| future naming.  If the "comp.sources.patches" group was instead called
| "comp.patches", it would open the door for a future "comp.patches.*"
| tree which would properly parallel "comp.sources.*", "comp.sys.*", etc..
| 

I'm of the opinion that we should create NO new news groups for
patches.  Before you ready the hot pitch and tar, let me explain.
Yes, comp.sources.bugs is clearly inadequate.  I beleive that offical
patches should go through the same group that posted the package in
the first place.  If that is the case, I think that moderators should
post patches ASAP, ahead of the normal queue of postings.  I'm also of
the opinion that, even though the volume the package may be closed for
new postings, the patches should have the appropriate headers so that
they get archived in the SAME directory the patch is in.  This way,
when people grab packages with FTP, UUCP, or mail based servers, they
don't have to go looking at later directories for the patches.
Comp.sources.x is the closest to the approach I mentioned.

While I'm at it, comp.sources.x does another thing I wish the other
groups would do:  Even if a package consists of a single source, it
should go in a directory by itself.  That way if/when a patch comes,
you have a location to store it in.
--
Michael Meissner, Data General.
Uucp:		...!mcnc!rti!xyzzy!meissner		If compiles were much
Internet:	meissner@dg-rtp.DG.COM			faster, when would we
Old Internet:	meissner%dg-rtp.DG.COM@relay.cs.net	have time for netnews?