On Tue, 2013-07-16 at 03:43 +0100, Chris Ball wrote: > Hi, > I'd like other developers to treat me this way too, but perhaps a good > way to get started is to first come up with a statement of how we'd > like to treat others, and then start collecting signatories to it. > Does that sound like a good idea? "collecting signatories"? Like getting signatures from kids that say they will remain virgins till they marry? In the end, they all end up getting screwed. No, we don't need any pact to sign. I'm not sure this is really that much of an issue. Yes, Linus likes to rant, but that's basically his trademark. There's a few other grumpy kernel developers that can be a bit heavy handed too. But really, if you don't want to be cursed at, here's some pretty easy instructions to follow. 1) Read what a maintainer tells you twice. If you are pointed to a document, read that twice. 2) If you don't understand what the maintainer says, ask what he/she meant. 3) Be honest! Don't try to pull that you know something that you really don't. 4) If you change existing infrastructure. Prove that your change is better. And not just on your box, on many other boxes. Post RFCs asking others to test, and give feedback. Don't claim its better till the numbers are in. 5) Don't be afraid to admit you don't know something. I find people that tell you what they don't know have much more integrity than people that keep telling you what they do know. I don't see any kernel developer cursing at someone because they just feel like cursing at someone. It's usually caused by someone not being honest with themselves or the developers they are dealing with. Or simply not listening to what they are being told. Linus's point is that he wants to be honest, and cursing is his way of giving you the most direct way to understand how he honestly feels. -- Steve -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe stable" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html