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Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

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Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#101

Post by ilaksh »

Maybe github can make it easier to send messages in reply to a pull request, or even show an email field there. Having people type out their email into the pull request is not the best way to handle that on the web interface I don't think (although practically speaking if you want to use email it is perfectly reasonable to make that a rule for your project until there is a feature like that for git and github). Ideally git itself could make it convenient to view that as a separate field with the pull request.

I am also pissed when someone ignores a feature I have written and redoes something without good reason.

Torvalds probably doesn't have time to handle a whole bunch of git pull requests, and most of them from github probably have problems or aren't important so this rule probably helps him a lot, practically speaking.

But obviously the people at github should really carefully analyze what he is requesting and if possible this could result in some minor improvements in that part of the github interface or git or both.

I don't know much about the Linux kernel, but I don't think that this type of driver information should be in such a centralized place and controlled by an individual or small group of individuals.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#103

Post by ionforce »

1qaz2wsx3edc wrote: post #86
yonester wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. The past few links on HN to comments by Tovald have been full of inflammatory, juvenile language. I'm sure the guy is intelligent and certainly deserves a place in CS hall-of-fame, but I think the way he carries himself in these forums has tarnished his reputation.

I feel like Tovald should watch DHH's railsconf talk on progress & the 'old' mentality. This feels alarmist, but he like any other githubber gets to choose what gets accepted or rejected.

Do you have a cliff's notes version?

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#104

Post by Karunamon »

marcamillion wrote: post #94
1qaz2wsx3edc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like Tovald should watch DHH's railsconf talk on progress & the 'old' mentality. This feels alarmist, but he like any other githubber gets to choose what gets accepted or rejected.

Funnily enough...DHH's talk is EXACTLY the first thing that came to mind when I saw Torvald's comment. Who cares if Torvalds has 'more' technical chops than DHH...DHH might be more abrasive, but it is a good abrasive. He is always pushing the community forward and encouraging Rails developers to be a little better. He is not afraid to embrace new technologies and give credit where its due. Can't tell when last I have…

You can't see how the head Linux kernel dev has been pushing the community foward? Okay then.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#105

Post by dclowd9901 »

cedsav wrote: post #92
marcamillion wrote: post #68

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

Maybe you're missing the importance of proper commit messages and the fact that github doesn't seem to steer users toward good habits. Given the size of his projects and the number of contributors, I find it reasonable to demand well documented and informative logs. As a developer, you have to be considerate of the time of people who have to decipher your work and intent. Obviously, it'd be better if the UI was promp…

And with distributed development, there needs to be accountability, arguably a greater standard of it. I, too, would rather err on the side of a conservative approach, especially since it pertains to the Linux kernel.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#106

Post by nwmcsween »

dhconnelly wrote: post #98

antirez via twitter: "Linus, I'm with you. Preserve your bastion of code quality as it's something rare and rapidly fading away." https://twitter.com/#!/antirez/status/201065752395124737

Linux and code quality? I think you may be confused.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#107

Post by CodeMage »

marcamillion wrote: post #68

I don't mean to be overly critical, but is it just me or are the 'godfathers' of computer science starting to sound like cranky old men? I mean....ok....this pull request being inferior to the way HE (the creator of Git) imagined it (or implemented it) is a bit petty imho. What's with the complaining? I am sure this is not the first time I have heard him complaining about something on Github or some other 'new techno…

Okay, have you been following closely Linus or Crockford? I know I haven't, which is why I always start from the position of "I don't have the full context."

My initial assumption is: Linus/Crockford/whoever-else-is-coming-across-as-a-cranky-old-person has seen whatever-he-is-berating or something very similar before, not just once but ridiculously often. That makes the reaction quite understandable and justified.

Plus, let's face it, we all want to be free to react like that when it's deserved ;)

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#108

Post by why-el »

mjs wrote: post #73
purephase wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is part of the git best practices: http://git.kernel.org/?p=git/git.git;a=blob;f=Documentation/...

The HEAD version is a bit different (less clear?), although the intent is more or less the same: "describe changes in imperative mood, e.g. "make xyzzy do frotz" instead of "[This patch] makes xyzzy do frotz" or "[I] changed xyzzy to do frotz", as if you are giving orders to the codebase to change its behaviour." http://git.kernel.org/?p=git/git.git;a=blob;f=Documentation/...

Exactly, same as when you are cherry-picking.

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#109

Post by dmethvin »

why-el wrote: post #46
mjs wrote: post #35

It's instructive to read Linus's commits to his hobby project "subsurface": https://github.com/torvalds/subsurface/commits/master Even if I can't code like Linus, I can at least try to write commit messages like his…

It always puzzled me why his commits (and in fact standard commits) ought to start with a verb that is not in its past form. When I started using git four months ago (such a newbie), I would write something like "Fixed this" instead of "Fix this". Anybody with more insights on this? I am just curious.

See his other rant about Github's handling of single-line commit summaries. When space is at a premium it's a waste to past-tensify all the verbs since it inevitably wastes precious characters in the one-line description.

It drives me nuts that I never know exactly when Github will break my one-line descriptions when there appears to be plenty of room left to display the characters. Like this one from Linus:

https://github.com/torvalds/subsurface/commit/bea6637c03a90f...

Re: Linus Torvalds won't do github pull requests

#110

Post by dmethvin »

alain94040 wrote: post #44

It's 2012 and we're still arguing about line breaks and 80-character lines?

If Github is going to show the first line of a commit message, it's damn handy to know how long that line would be so you don't get something stupid-looking like this: https://github.com/torvalds/subsurface/commit/bea6637c03a90f...
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