Rob Lanphier wrote:
After review, some (but not all) of the features in the review queue then need to be reviewed for checking into the deployment branch. Our short term answer to that was the deployment queue: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Deployment_queue
I have a few comments.
You're chomping at the edges again, but not focusing on the larger issue. It's still about _WHO_ is going to be deploying these extensions (or doing general code updates). That question is still unresolved and it's at the heart of the problem. By focusing on the periphery, you're simply needlessly adding paperwork (like the new "Deployment queue") without actually accomplishing anything. Read on for a specific example of why deployment is sometimes the sole issue, not review.
The issue with focusing on a "Review queue" is that it puts the focus and emphasis in the wrong place. Nobody cares about getting their code reviewed (per se). They want their code live on the site. Most developers don't care if their code is efficient or not (Domas can speak more to this), they just want to see their hard work in production. That's why they contribute code (or contributed, as the case seems to be nowadays). So the emphasis should be on deployment, a key step of which is code review, to be sure. But putting the focus on review (as though once review is finished, something will magically change) is silly and a poor idea.
Regarding extension deployment in general, one of the issues that seems to be overlooked is why it's necessary to require individual sites to request that a feature be enabled. As long as there aren't performance concerns, an extension should be enabled by default. Let's look at a specific example. Here's the current configuration for DynamicPageList:
'wmgUseDPL' => array( // controls loading of DynamicPageList extension 'default' => false, 'dewiktionary' => true, 'enwiktionary' => true, 'incubatorwiki' => true, 'metawiki' => true, 'otrs_wikiwiki' => true, 'srwiki' => true, 'strategywiki' => true, 'wikibooks' => true, 'wikimania2009wiki' => true, 'wikimania2010wiki' => true, 'wikimania2011wiki' => true, 'wikinews' => true, 'wikiquote' => true, 'wikiversity' => true, ),
Inexplicably, "'wikisource' => true" and "'wikitionary' => true" are missing. It also sets the default to false, even though the vast majority of sites could have this extension without any issue. The consequence of this is that the following bugs are currently open asking for this extension to be enabled on a Wikimedia wiki:
nlwiki | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6163 iswiktionary | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7952 eswiktionary | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7952 bswiki | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8240 dewikisource | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8563 enwikisource | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8563 hewikisource | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8563 viwiktionary | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8886 plwiktionary | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11788 nlwikibooks | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15477 frwiki | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=19810 frwikisource | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=22250 itwikisource | https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25172
This is (literally) a two-line change that would resolve a large amount of old bugs. Of course this doesn't consider that plenty of sites are simply suffering in silence, having not yet understood how to file a shell bug or, more likely, having watched the progress of the other bugs, I would imagine a good number of communities have simply decided to not waste the time filing a bug that's simply going to be ignored.
I don't see how this acceptable or desirable, especially given that this is an example of an extension that has been reviewed, but is purely in the "deployment" arena now.
Before someone starts shouting about not considering the performance of large sites, I'll note that according to my numbers, the largest Wiktionary by number of pages (enwiktionary) has this extension enabled.[1] Perhaps there are more complex reasons that this extension can't be enabled elsewhere; I'd certainly be interested in hearing them. I imagine the people waiting years for this extension to be enabled would be interested as well.
Call me pessimistic, call me cynical, call me whatever, but take a look at https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7952 and tell how this is acceptable. This bug will celebrate its fourth birthday this month on November 16. Somehow I don't think the Icelandic Wiktionary with its 19,000 pages is going to crash the servers.
Perhaps the addition of a Bugmeister will allow this type of problem to get more attention, though I think it's kind of ridiculous that it's going to require an additional full-time staff member to point out what anyone taking a minute to research can point out right now.
MZMcBride
[1] https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/Wiki_server_assignments