[Qgis-psc] Credits

[Anita Graser]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2015 at 9:57 AM, Paolo Cavallini <cavallini at faunalia.it>
wrote:

> Hi all.
> Can we resume our decision regarding the possibilities to get credit for
> the contributions to the code?
> <http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-psc>



​For reference
http://hub.qgis.org/wiki/quantum-gis/PSC_Meeting_6_February_2015:

16:35 < timlinux> Credits for contribution?
16:35 < pcav> yes
16:35 < pcav> the idea is clear I think
16:36 < timlinux> can you recap your suggested path to conclusion on this?
16:36 < pcav> giving credits may encourage contribution
16:36 < pcav> but we do not want to be full of adverts
16:36 < aneumann> I think one of the best ways to give credits is the
visual changelog
16:36 < duiv> I think the suggestion about using the visual changelog
for some thing is good
16:36 < pcav> agreed
16:36 < aneumann> something like "this feature was sponsored by ...
16:37 < timlinux> up until no except for official sponsors I
explicitly avoided putting credits there
16:37 < timlinux> because the feeling in the past was that it is easy
to leave someone out
16:37 < timlinux> and demotivate contributors
16:37 < pcav> timlinux: you are right also
16:37 < aneumann> why would it demotivate?
16:38 < timlinux> well if I name Joe X for his small feature but leave
out Bob  for his big feature he will think we suck and go away to work
on esri plugins
16:38 < timlinux> more specifically because the changelog is about
visual changes
16:38 < timlinux> if you spend 3 months cleaning up the API
16:38 < timlinux> you might not even get mentioned
16:38 < timlinux> but someone who makes a pretty new dialog will
16:39 < timlinux> so it is not a very fair system
16:39 < aneumann> well - we can still mention "less visible" changes
in the visual changelog
16:39 < aneumann> some of the QGIS server improvements are not very visual
16:39 < timlinux> or we could just include the complete list of people
in CONTRIBUTORS
16:39 < aneumann> we could transform the visual changelog into a
general release notes document
16:39 <@jef> like a qt update in osgeo4w that strictly isn't qgis at all.
16:40 < aneumann> where we can list what we want
16:40 < timlinux> yeah it doesnt have to be purely visual changes, but
we will still end up leaving people out
16:40 < timlinux> as per jef's example above
16:40 < timlinux> and what about translators
16:41 < timlinux> or Richard slaving away for hours to make the docs work
16:41 < timlinux> etc
16:41 < aneumann> we can still mention such efforts
16:41 < timlinux> I think the fairest way to attribute individual
effort is to congratulate the community as a whole and not try to
identify individuals
16:41 -!- gsherman [~gsherman at qgis/developer/gsherman] has quit [Ping
timeout: 245 seconds]
16:41 < aneumann> Personally, I believe, if other organizations see
that org x is sponsoring
16:41 < timlinux> aneumann: but how would you make a proper exhaustive list?
16:42 < aneumann> it will motivate other orgs to sponsor at well
16:42 < timlinux> sure
16:42 < timlinux> no dispute
16:42 < aneumann> it would be a way to motivate more paid development,
which would accelerate
16:42 < aneumann> the project
16:42 < timlinux> I just think it ignores the individual efforts and
makes donating orgs looks like the heros
16:43 < timlinux> so IMHO we should tread carefully
16:43 < timlinux> otherwise we transition from a grass roots project
to a top down project
16:43 < aneumann> That I don't fear
16:43 < aneumann> interest in QGIS is diverse and there are so many
orgs involved
16:43 < aneumann> that noone really dominates
16:44 -!- gsherman [~gsherman at 226-5-178-69.static.gci.net] has joined
#qgis_meeting_150206
16:44 < timlinux> So why dont we make an honour roll
16:44 < aneumann> But I agree that the voluntary work should be
properly attributed
16:44 < timlinux> composed of CONTRIBUTORS + orgs that pay for features
16:45 < pcav> one question is: how far back do we want to go?
16:45 < timlinux> and just list it as part of the release
16:45 < gsherman> june 2002
16:45 < timlinux> haha
16:45 < gsherman> :P
16:45 < timlinux> so we have
https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/blob/master/doc/CONTRIBUTORS
16:46 < timlinux> why not just make two files:
16:46 < pcav> so listing only new features and new contribution, right?
16:46 < timlinux> CONTRIBUTING-INDIVIDUALS
16:46 < timlinux> and CONTRIBUTING-ORGANISATIONS
16:47 < timlinux> and let people list in a field after their name /
org name the key things they did (or think they did :-) )
16:47 < aneumann> I think it would be valuable to have this
information directly in the visual changelog
16:47 < timlinux> then we reproduce the entire combined list at the
bottom of each release announcement / changelog
16:47 < aneumann> that way orgs with similar interests can hook with each other
16:47 < timlinux> yes  ^^^
16:48 < timlinux> see my line between yours
16:48 < timlinux> note that currently contributors only includes
people who have made patches
16:48 < timlinux> so we still should include others who do docs,
testing, bug queue triaging etc etc
16:49 < pcav> as always
16:49 < pcav> it is difficult to draw a line
16:49 < timlinux> its very easy to leave someone out and offend them
so there should be an easy mechanism for anyone to make sure they are
added into the right list
16:49 < pcav> yes
16:49 < timlinux> btw I think gdal has something like this in their
releases 1 sec
16:50 < timlinux> hmm I htought it was them maybe it was another project
16:50 < timlinux> https://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/Release/1.9.0-News
16:50 < timlinux> in their annoucenemtns the just state the changes
16:51 < timlinux> (not that we have to copy them of course)
16:51 < aneumann> I would even suggest that the changelog should also
list who developed it. It would be good advertising for the developer.
16:53 < timlinux> You mean the sponsoring org + developer contracted?
16:53 < aneumann> yes
16:53 < timlinux> yeah - again that would be covered by my suggestion above
16:53 < aneumann> so if one is interested in more composer stuff he
can see who did the other stuff
16:53 < aneumann> and thus knows the dev is familiar with this section
of the code
16:53 < timlinux> e.g. Nyall adds in the space next to his name 'made
composer foo for company bar'
16:54 < timlinux> yup
16:54 < aneumann> again - it would mean that we should also list less
visible improvements as well
16:55 < timlinux> We should put out a call first asking all
individuals and orgs who have ever contributed to QGIS to please add
their names
16:55 < timlinux> maybe I can (sorry Paolo) whip up another google form
16:55 < timlinux> to let people stick their info in there
16:57 < aneumann> I would just start with the next release and not
dig too much in the past - to avoid too much work.
16:57 < timlinux> ok
16:58 < timlinux> can you or someone help with it?
16:58 < timlinux> I probably have may plate full doing the changelog content
16:59 < aneumann> I think most devs can help with that - if we
provide the necessary fields in the changelog.
16:59 < timlinux> ok
16:59 < duiv> let's not change the changelog app for now plz
16:59 < duiv> let's concentrate on a good changelog for 2.8
16:59 < timlinux> yeah I think the conversation goes back in a circle again
16:59 <@jef> duiv: are you in the middle of migrating it to qgis.org? ;)
17:00 < duiv> nope
17:00 < timlinux> also on my long todo list :-(
17:00 < timlinux> sorry I never got to it yet
17:01 < timlinux> anyway it gets published on QGIS.org
17:01 < duiv> timlinux: do not worry, it's ok where it is...
17:01 < timlinux> the changelong.linfiniti.com is not meant to be
passed to the public
17:01 < aneumann> so it is too complicated to add two fields?
17:01 -!- strk [~strk at unaffiliated/strk] has joined #qgis_meeting_150206
17:02 < duiv> put it on my list to migrate it to qgis2 then
17:02 <@jef> timlinux: ok, with me.  either there - it probably would
timeout on qgis.org anyway
17:02 < timlinux> haha
17:02 < timlinux> anyway I will migrate it to qgis.org eventually
17:02 < timlinux> we could actually just point that dns to my server as an alias
17:03 < duiv> timlinux: let's do that for now :-)

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