Is ReviewBoard a good thing?

[Eric Snow]

On Thu, Sep 18, 2014 at 6:19 PM, Jesse Meek <jesse.meek at canonical.com> wrote:
> We moved to GitHub in the hope of lowering the bar to contributors outside
> the team. GitHub is *the* platform and process for open source software.
> This was the logic behind the move. It was deemed to have the most mindshare
> and we sacrificed our prefered platform and process to be part of that
> mindshare.
>
> We are now leaving that 'main stream' process to something that suits the
> tastes of our team - ReviewBoard. This adds friction for new contributors
> (friction everyone has experienced this week).

This is mostly a consequence of moving to a new tool.  Not only are we
still getting used to a new tool, we are also learning what pain
points it introduces.  We have not had a chance yet to find reasonable
solutions (or determine that the concerns are practically
insurmountable).  My belief is that the main concerns are solvable in
the short term (github and reviewboard have good APIs and reviewboard
is super extendable).

> If we value our preferred
> methods of reviewing over keeping to a well known process for outside
> contributors, the best process was launchpad + rietveld. Shouldn't we simply
> return to that.

If we ditch ReviewBoard, let's just go back to GitHub.  However, I
don't think we should ditch ReviewBoard yet.  It is way to early to
make that kind of decision.  Let's give it a chance and take this up
in Brussels.

>
> Considering we have been successfully using GitHub for several months now,
> using reviewboard is not a necessity. Obviously, I will go with whatever the
> team decides, but I'm concerned that we have moved to reviewboard without
> considering that it undermines (as far as I can see) our primary reason for
> using GitHub.

I agree that reviewboard as we currently have it now adds extra work
to our workflow. Not only does this impact the juju team, but it does
add a stumbling block to more community involvement.  However, my firm
belief is that the real pain points are addressable in the short term.
Let's give it a chance.

-eric