On 10/07/2018 14:10, Sara Golemon wrote:
What are the causes?
I have noticed three approximate (and overlapping) categories of late RFC:
1) Submarine features: Features which have been developed over a long
period, but where the author wanted to get things polished before
formally announcing, e.g. typed properties
2) Quicky features: Simple changes which people have been *mentally*
working on, often just deprecations and edge-case handling changes
3) Sleeping RFCs: Changes which enter initial discussion, go quiet, and
sit in "Under Discussion" without reaching a vote
In all three cases, I think the general psychology of deadlines comes
into play: it's easy to put off those finishing touches when you've got
plenty of time, then jump into action at the last minute. There seems to
also be a reluctance to target anything other than the current cycle;
partly just because "would you like it released in 6 months or 18
months?" is usually "sooner!"
One thing that might help, particularly with the 1st and 3rd categories
there, is a clearer set of statuses for RFCs and other features.
We currently have 61 RFCs in the "Under Discussion" section of
https://wiki.php.net/rfc; some of these are effectively abandoned,
others just need polishing and taking to a vote. Then there are any
number of experiments and TODO lists which could turn into a "submarine"
or "quicky" feature.
I'm not sure of the exact formula, but some possible lines of thought...
- Have a separate status, or a separate list (dare I call it a
"roadmap"?) for the RFCs targeting each release?
- Include items on that list that aren't ready for an RFC yet?
- Find some way to prune that list at key points in the release cycle?
- Have some kind of inactivity timeout for what counts as "Under
Discussion"? Maybe a new status/heading of "Dormant"?
- Have a "put up or shut up" deadline? e.g. if you announce a feature
targeting 7.4 now, you have to put it to vote by, say, March, not keep
it ticking over until next July
Regards,
--
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]
--
PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List
To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
