Re: [PATCH] MyFirstContribution: refrain from self-iterating too much

From: Torsten Bögershausen <tboegi@web.de>
Date: Jan 22, 2023, 07:11 UTC
Message-ID: <20230122071156.367jwwt3d5txvkl4@tb-raspi4>
In-Reply-To: <xmqq3583uyk0.fsf@gitster.g>

On Sat, Jan 21, 2023 at 05:51:11PM -0800, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 32 quoted lines

> Finding mistakes in and improving your own patches is a good idea,
> but doing so too quickly is being inconsiderate to reviewers who
> have just seen the initial iteration and taking their time to review
> it.  Encourage new developers to perform such a self review before
> they send out their patches, not after.
>
> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 20 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git c/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt w/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt
> index 7c9a037cc2..81dcaedf0c 100644
> --- c/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt
> +++ w/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt
> @@ -1136,6 +1136,26 @@ index 88f126184c..38da593a60 100644
>  [[now-what]]
>  == My Patch Got Emailed - Now What?
>
> +You should wait for your patch to be reviewed by other people in the
> +development community.  While you are waiting, you may want to
> +re-read what you wrote in the patch you already have sent, as if you
> +are a reviewer who is helping you to improve your patch.  But resist
> +the temptation to update the patch and send a new one, until other
> +people had enough time to digest your original patch and give you
> +their reviews.  They may be taking time to give you a carefully
> +written review responses and haven't finished it yet.  Bombarding
> +them with new versions before they have a chance to react to the
> +first iteration is being rude to them.
> +
> +Of course, you still may spot mistakes and rooms for improvements
> +after you sent your initial patch.

I can't resist the question: After outlining what not to do and why, could there be a hint what to do ? It may be, that the author justs spots a simple typo, or there may be more heavier changes to be done.

Should the author just respond to her/his patch as a reviewer does ? Like: Ops, there is a "typax", I should have written "typo". Or: Re-reading my own stuff, I think that things could have been done in a way like this.... Lets wait for more comments before I send out a new version.

Show 11 quoted lines

>+ Learn from that experience to
> +make sure that you will do such a self-review _before_ sending your
> +patches next time.  You do not have to send your patches immediately
> +once you finished writing them.  It is not a race.  Take your time
> +to self-review them, sleep on them, improve them before sending them
> +out, and do not allow you to send them before you are reasonably
> +sure that you won't find more mistakes in them yourself.
> +
>  [[reviewing]]
>  === Responding to Reviews
>