Another proposal for modernization of our infrastructure

[Inge Wallin]

On Saturday, January 31, 2015 22:41:36 Jan Kundrát wrote:
> On Saturday, 31 January 2015 21:38:23 CEST, Inge Wallin wrote:
> > It is one thing if there is one tool that is totally too weak to work for
> > experienced people and one tool that is awesome but very
> > difficult to learn.
> > But that's not the situation we have here.  I think we have one
> > tool that is
> > very good and then one that many have pointed out as cumbersome
> > and difficult to
> > learn for not very experienced people - but - with an edge when it comes
> > to
> > advanced git users.
> 
> I am a bit surprised to read that Phabricator is apparently considered
> "very good" even though no KDE project has tried it yet. I was under the
> impression that the usual order of steps is:

This is true. It's not proven yet.  What I described above was my impression 
taken from the comments by the people who did try it in other situations.  The 
real status has to be determined by tests.  So let me add a "supposedly" to 
the sentence above.

No decision should be made without real tests, of course.

> 1) install a tool,
> 2) play with it,
> 3) identify its strenghts and weeknesses,
> 4) make an informed opinion.
> 
> Did I miss something? Which KDE project has been testing Phabricator?
> 
> > I know how long it took for me to get used ot git, and I think I'm pretty
> > experienced. Adding to that burden is not the way to get new people.
> 
> I'll repeat my request from earlier in this thread -- please quantify the
> expected increase of the barrier to entry. "Different" does not imply
> "harder".

It does, actually.  Not forever, of course, but the very fact that something 
is different than what you know before makes it more difficult to learn. But you 
knew that already, so I wonder why you were saying the above. And also, 
different from what? I bet that both Gerrit and Phabricator are quite different 
than Reviewboard.

But that aside, I am a bit surprised by your request to "quantify difficulty". 
What unit do you want it in? Brain-hours? Headaches? I would be interested in 
your own opinion about a quantified measure of difficulty to learn and use Gerrit 
compared to Phabricator.  Or if you are unfamiliar with Phabricator, then the 
quantified measure of difficulty for Gerrit is enough.

Anyway, I'll let it rest from here on.  I suppose that the real tests will 
show us which tool is the best, and which weaknesses and strength they have.