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Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 20:15:44 -0400
Message-ID: <CA+8xBpcKNrGFKkN4mAW9E_s9Ph1=Qh9DNWryihDmD90HWMWF3Q@mail.gmail.com>
From: Jeff Garzik <jgarzik@exmulti.com>
To: Gavin Andresen <gavinandresen@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Cc: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Seeking advice: Encouraging bug-fixing
 over new features
Precedence: list

Linux kernel has not solved this problem; developers simply want to
work on interesting stuff, rather than debug, I think.

The best Linus has done so far it making certain periods of time
bugfix-only, refusing to take new feature pushes during the stability
period.  If there are critical bugs, refusing to release the kernel
until a developer fixes the regressions they added.

Linux is large enough, though, that the ecosystem has grown a support
network, where companies pay for support (one big way my employer
stays in business), which includes bug fixes.  So the paid support
orgs, like Red Hat, wind up going a lot of grunt work fixing because
they are the closest contact to actual users in the field encountering
problems with the Wonderful New Features bestowed upon them by
developers.

"drop and run" coding is a term for developers who appear, commit a
new feature, and then disappear without addressing bug reports or
other feedback regarding their contribution.

-- 
Jeff Garzik
exMULTI, Inc.
jgarzik@exmulti.com