[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] Poll for the community

[Ganesh Ajjanagadde]

On Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 9:58 AM, Clément Bœsch <u at pkh.me> wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 08:39:16AM -0400, Ganesh Ajjanagadde wrote:
>> On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 4:41 AM, Clément Bœsch <u at pkh.me> wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I'd like to suggest a poll for the community in order to define some more
>> > clear directions for the project. I plan to post the poll on the mailing
>> > lists and IRC, people are free to forward them elsewhere.
>> >
>> > If anyone has a suggestion for a free & simple online poll, I'm listening.
>> > A poll system where people can pick the importance of each entry would be
>> > perfect.
>> >
>> > Here is the poll suggestion:
>> >
>> >     Evaluate in the following list what is important and what isn't for
>> >     you in the FFmpeg project:
>> >
>> >     - More bug fixes (please [+] them in the bug tracker)
>> >     - More test coverage to prevent regressions
>> >     - More "simple" features (new demuxers, new options, ...)
>> >     - More "advanced" features (high level API, scripting language
>> >       binding, filters rethinking, ...)
>> >     - More speed optimizations
>> >     - Better releases (LTS, more backports, ...)
>> >     - Overall cleanups (merge redundant decoders or dead/clumsy stuff)
>> >     - More API changes
>> >     - Less API changes
>> >     - Better API documentation (please specify)
>> >     - Better command line documentation (please specify)
>> >     - Other (please specify)
>> >
>> > I'd like to submit the poll by the end of next week. Comments on how to
>> > improve this list are very welcome, as well as my initial request about a
>> > poll system to use.
>>
>> List looks mostly good to me. Here are some suggestions:
>> 1. http://jk.ozlabs.org/projects/patchwork/ - I recall Nicolas
>> mentioning this as possibly useful - many projects (e.g VLC, glibc)
>> use it. I had a look at its use in these projects, and do think it
>> would be useful for FFmpeg. I think it is especially useful for
>> relatively high mailing volume lists like ffmpeg-devel. Patches
>> sometimes get forgotten, sometimes reviews are missing, etc -
>> patchwork helps alleviate such problems without disrupting the current
>> workflow. See for instance the quote on the webpage: "patchwork should
>> supplement mailing lists, not replace them".
>>
>
> This is mostly a developer thing, I don't think it really belongs in a
> community poll...

Good point.

>
>> I suggest creating an "infrastructure" section covering this and other
>> ideas of similar spirit.
>>
>
> Feel free to suggest an entry. Maybe "Improve your overall developers
> infrastructure to ease contributions"?

I think it is mostly a dev thing; I initially assumed the poll was for the devs.

>
>> 2. I don't know whether "more/less API changes" covers the nuances of
>> API changes. There are other questions related to how/when API changes
>> need to be done. Maybe this is useful as a starting point, but I
>> suggest further thought on this.
>
> Please be specific :)

I am not the person to ask regarding API/ABI, I suggested this so that
people of greater expertise on the topic can discuss this. The reason
I said it is nuanced is based on the amount of energy on the ML
devoted to this kind of stuff.

>
>>
>> As for the actual polling system, I do not have any ideas.
>>
>
> Thanks, and sorry for ignoring most of what you suggested; I just don't
> really know what to do with it. Feel free to be more specific in the next
> 24 hours.

No problem at all, they were merely meant to get some thoughts churning.

>
> --
> Clément B.
>
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