[RFD] Merge proposals and code reviews too private

[Aaron Bentley]

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Matthew D. Fuller wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 08:20:12AM -0400 I heard the voice of
> Aaron Bentley, and lo! it spake thus:

>> It is reasonable to separate code review from other forms of
>> discussion.
> 
> OTOH, it's also reasonable to have the development-related discussion
> in one place.
> 
> This is especially true since we have a cultural norm of using
> whatever code review system we're using at the time not just for
> reviewing the code, but for all discussion around changes.  We've told
> people many times not to submit patches as RFC's to the list, but to
> make them [MERGE] requests for the tracking, and discussed everything
> from the details of the code to the general desirability and shape of
> the feature in discussions spawned from that.  While it may make sense
> to have the former only happen with a relatively small list of people
> who've explicitly sought out extras, it does not for the latter.  And
> the way we organize the workflow shunts both into the same place.
> 

> OTOH, to take an example off my list, the DWIM revspecs need review on
> the code, BUT also deserve at least some discussion on the feature
> itself.  And a lot of people can have opinions on that that should be
> given a chance to air, who aren't going through extra undocumented and
> practically unmentioned steps to subscribe to the REAL dev discussions
> ("this time for sure!").

For many people, this is not the dev list, it is the discussion list.
We already have separate subscriptions to receive bug reports, so the
precedent is already set.

>> Code review is not designed to interoperate with mailing lists.  For
>> example, unlike BB, code review could not read mail addressed to
>> bzr.dev without substantial redesign.
> 
> But it's perfectly capable of having the list subscribed to it, and
> the Reply-To on the mails would ensure that comments by people on the
> list ended up in the review history.

But not replies that honour the List-Post header.

It will also cause issues for the reviewers and other subscribers.
They'll get duplicate, subtly different emails (basically, different
rationales for sending the message).  And unlike now, they won't be able
to control their subscription settings.

It could easily cause duplicates on the list if people post to the list
and cc launchpad.

It will also encourage people to post off-topic discussion to code review.

Code review was not designed for this.  Don't try to force it.  It will
break.

Aaron
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