

Contributing to Clojure - michaelsbradley
http://insideclojure.org/2015/05/01/contributing-clojure/

======
bjwbell
Interesting to contrast with contributing to Servo,
[https://github.com/servo/servo/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/servo/servo/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).
Basically open a pull request on github and wait for review by a project team
member.

Clojure has many more steps. I'm curious if those steps are by default due to
the software they use (JIRA) or because of specific issues Rich saw with
contributing.

Linux also has a very different contributor model, mailing list based, to
either clojure or servo. Which I know is due to the volume of changes for each
release.

~~~
puredanger
It has nothing to do with the software. The intention behind the process is to
have a screener + Rich agree the problem is a good one and a screener + Rich
agree the patch is a good one.

Regardless, the work involved in all of the steps combined is insignificant
compared to the essential work of creating and reviewing the patches.

~~~
brandonbloom
Before I say anything, I want to say to onlookers: Alex, Rich, et al _bust
their asses_ to do a thorough job of reviewing patches. Clojure has a stunning
good track record of quality, backwards compatibility, and robust design. This
is in no small part due to the meticulous contribution process.

That being said...

> the work involved in all of the steps combined is insignificant compared to
> the essential work of creating and reviewing the patches.

Certainly true for most interesting bug fixes and enhancements. However, I've
found that it's not true for a fair number of small issues I encounter on a
not-uncommon basis. Most of them escape my memory now, but I've run across
issues like docstring typos or the like, and it's just not worth the effort to
submit a ticket and patch.

This particularly afflicts ClojureScript, where the review process isn't
nearly as rigorous. Especially true when ClojureScript lags Clojure, and all
the hard problem analysis and design work has been completed on the JVM side
of the fence. Often a copy/paste is sufficient to get the work moved over to
ClojureScript, in which case the work of creating a Jira ticket dominates the
effort to make the change.

I don't have a particularly good solution. Part of the problem is learned
hatred of JIRA... Anyway, I'll stop looking at this gift horse's mouth.

------
theevilcellist
I can't think of another open-source project with a more convoluted process
for contributing.

~~~
personx
digium requires you to sign a license agreement
[https://issues.asterisk.org/jira/secure/DigiumLicense.jspa](https://issues.asterisk.org/jira/secure/DigiumLicense.jspa)

------
davexunit
Ouch, they require copyright assignment. The only copyright assignment terms
I've ever found agreeable were the Free Software Foundation's. I would not be
willing to assign my copyright to a single person.

~~~
puredanger
Note it's joint assignment - you retain yours as well.

