openstack team mailing list archive

[Sandy Walsh <sandy.walsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Todd Willey [todd@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
> I, too, appreciate people taking their time to write blueprints. I
also appreciate people who take time to write code, even if it doesn't
come with a blueprint. People who take their creative energy to
contribute to something I love earn enough favor that my default state
is to try and accept their contribution without imposing additional
barriers to entry. Maybe a patch comes in that it isn't reasonable to
merge, but we never know unless we actually look at it with the
mindset of trying to accept it. I still expect that people give
blueprint-level details in merge proposals so that we can follow the
code with an understanding of what you're trying to accomplish,
otherwise we'd do right to mark it "Needs Information" and get the
clarity we need.

Todd brings up an interesting point here.

I think of a blueprint as requirements gathering vs design. Code without
agreed-upon requirements has the risk of solving the wrong problems.
It doesn't have to be a tome ... notes are fine.

The example I can cite is directapi/authn/authz. While having the code is
a great discussion point, the spec and notes don't really give enough to explain:
* the use cases (happy day and exceptions)
* the actors involved
* the cons (lots of pro's given)

Having a blueprint to go with it would have given us time to think
about the problem while the code was being put together.

Now, I have a body of code to look at, but now I need to understand
the gotcha's of adopting it. The How's and the Why's. A blueprint would
make this much easier.

Secondly, while I'm a strong advocate of code over talk I think there is
an unwritten assumption that, simply because there is code, it deserves
merge into the code stream. If code takes the place of a blueprint, it
should get the same weight as a blueprint. That is, it may get rejected
outright or alternative designs recommended to the point the code is a
throwaway.

$0.02

-S

PS> And don't get me wrong, directapi/authn/z are all impressive
branches, completely worthy of our full attention.



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