Delay in merging new product contributions

[mamccorm]

Hi there.

Really appreciate all the work you do. Lately i've noticed a delay getting new contributions merged for new products.

I don't doubt theres an ever-growing amount of work and maintenance as new products are registered. I'm curious if theres been a pause or any reason?

I'll end by asking - how can I help? Are you open to onboarding new maintainers?

[captn3m0]

Can't speak for others maintainers, but I've been busy outside of this project, and haven't really looked at new products in a bit. Sorry about that. Not an intentional pause in the project though.

how can I help? Are you open to onboarding new maintainers?

YES! We're open to onboarding new maintainers. We typically nominate a new maintainer after they've made a few regular contributions (typically 5-10 PRs). You can self-nominate as well.

https://github.com/endoflife-date/endoflife.date/wiki/Governance#getting-write-access

[chenrui333]

from my side, I think the reason is mostly the unclear review guidelines for accepting the new product. Not necessarily the maintainer does not have bandwidth per se. Maybe we should start with the documentation of that?

[marcwrobel]

What do you mean exactly by "unclear review guidelines for accepting the new product" ? Can you be more more specific ?

[chenrui333]

like what are the things to check before accepting and merging.

[mamccorm]

Great thanks. +1 would be great to see some guidelines. I'll request to become a maintainer, though i'm still building my experience, so would likely be limited to low-hanging fruit in the interim

[mamccorm]

@captn3m0 submitted a self-nomination for maintainer access here, though there are some reservations:

• New Contributors #279 (reply in thread)

Thats fine though, i'd too like to build up my contributions and experience first. How else can we support the project @captn3m0? Any plans to do a sweep and merge of the new product registrations? Any further sponsorship angles help with facilitating maintenance of the project?

[marcwrobel]

Thats fine though, i'd too like to build up my contributions and experience first. How else can we support the project @captn3m0?

@mamccorm, you don't need to be a maintainer to help with the reviews. I think the best way to build experience would be to read the documentation, such as https://endoflife.date/contribute or https://github.com/endoflife-date/endoflife.date/wiki/Guiding-Principles, and start reviewing some PRs you are interested in.

[marcwrobel]

A bit like @captn3m0, I’ve also been less active on this project lately.

I’ve also noticed an increase in “New product” contributions. Maybe it can explain the recent delays you’ve observed?

Also, validating new products often involves extensive back-and-forth between contributors and reviewers over long periods. This can make the process inherently slow and may discourage maintainers from taking on these reviews (understandably so). For this reason, I also don’t believe a “sweep and merge” approach for new product registrations is feasible.

That said, more help with reviews, even from non-maintainers, would be incredibly valuable. Improving the guidelines, as suggested by @chenrui333, could also streamline the process. Please don’t hesitate to share your ideas for improvement!

[mamccorm]

Will continue to look for places to offer insights and help in PR reviews as a commenter.

@captn3m0, @marcwrobel - Any plans or ideas on addressing the backlog of new product registrations?

[marcwrobel]

No particular plan on my side : I will continue to process the PR as fast as I can, usually starting by the older ones.

If you wish to speed things up, do not hesitate to review "new product" PRs. Basically such PRs:

• must be valid (linting, this is checked automatically by the CI),
• must follow our guidelines,
• must be verified: every piece of information (dates, releases, elements in the description...) must be sourced and verified.

And as the author of #8588, you can also take into account the feedback that was provided in the PR.