[GSoC] Adding a Maintainer to the Jenkins File Runner Github repositories

[Jean-Marc Meessen]

Hello,

In my position as Jenkins GSoC Org Admin, I am requesting to add Kris Stern as maintainer of the Jenkins File Runner Github repositories. Kris is the lead mentor for the Jenkinsfile Runner Action for GitHub Actions 2022 GSoC project.

The two Github repositories are https://github.com/jenkinsci/jenkinsfile-runner and https://github.com/jenkinsci/jenkinsfile-runner-github-actions

It is critical for the success of the GSoC projects that at least one mentor has maintainer rights on the related Github project. A fluid PR flow is key to achieve the objectives within the allocated summer months. This is not the case for the above mentioned project. Oleg Nenashev, who is maintainer, initially volunteered as mentor for that project. But he had to withdraw because of workload and personal issues. Although he still tries to free time to advise the GSoC project team, measures need to be taken to avoid bottlenecks.

Note that maintainer activity, by Oleg and the two other maintainers (E. Gutierrez and F. Fernandez), has been very low since autumn 2021.

/- Jmm

Jean-Marc Meessen

Jenkins GSoC Org Admin

[Oleg Nenashev]

Hello Jean-Marc,

Yes, I am not very active in the project at the moment. You and many other community members know the reasons. Also, there have not been any serious contributions that I would be ready to merge as a maintainer. Sadly, I cannot do much more about my capacity at the moment, be sure I would like to return to Jenkins development too.

Back to the request. While I understand the desire, at the moment I am against this request. Google Summer of Code is important, but right now there are serious concerns about the project scope and implementation. We discussed it on Slack and during the recent project meeting. The currently planned implementation of the project goes against the common Jenkins extensible architecture and the vision for Jenkinsfile Runner as a manageable tool. As a maintainer of Jenkinsfile Runner I am not ready to accept the hardcoded support for GitHub actions into the core Jenkinsfile Runner components, as the current design intends. 

And be sure I do not want to be a bottleneck. Quite opposite, I want to have more maintainers in the project. Same time neither Kris nor Yiming have enough experience with Jenkinsfile Runner at the moment, and they do not have enough maintainer experience in Jenkins yet. IMO they are not ready to skip the common maintainer onboarding stages and to become maintainers right away. I am also ready to provide mentorship for them as aspiring maintainers, but it will take a few months before they are ready to become maintainers.

During the discussions I committed to provide reviews to all Jenkinsfile Runner contributors, including Kris and Yiming. I am ready to provide technical feedback as an advisor. This is all I can commit to at the moment, and the GSoC org admin team was well aware about it during the project selection. Happy to discuss more at the next GSoC project meetings or in this mailing list.

Best regards,

Oleg Nenashev

[Jean-Marc Meessen]

Oleg, please allow me to disagree on your point of view:

• It is a pity and a missed opportunity that you didn't contribute when reviewing the proposal earlier in the process.
• I don't have the same interpretation as you on mentoring (formal and informal). 

I will closely follow how this unfolds and pull the alarm signal/emergency brake should the GSoC project derail and miss its objectives.

/- Jmm

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[Oleg Nenashev]

We still need to understand what the objectives are and what is the actual scope of the project. What I see in the current design, it likely doesn't require changes in Jenkinsfile Runner itself, and there is no plan to modify the existing GitHub actions.

I encourage all interested parties to make the design document public and to initiate the discussion in the community like it should have happened during the community bonding phase. I've been around in the project since the community bonding started, and the meeting on Monday was the first time when I saw the design document. And the it's not complete according to the mentee, despite the coding phase beginning on that day.

From the community standpoint, we must ensure that the design gets discussed as soon as possible, for example through the cloud native SIG or another group. Otherwise it may put the whole project at risk. Community bonding was supposed to get all parties on the same page and to ensure that the mentee is ready to start coding on day first. Clearly didn't happen and we have to make up for it during the first coding phase.

Sorry if my feedback is harsh, but I want to help the project to succeed.

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[Jean-Marc Meessen]

I am not interested in sterile discussions. Facts will show.

Guided by my values, I understand GSoC mentoring as encouraging creativity, helping people to grow/learn/have fun, allowing them to make mistakes but be watchful so that they don't get "hurt". And, this, to learn how (and like) to work in an Open Source Community.

It is not about a single truth, control, and authoritarian approach (impersonating the Community?). There is a difference between "I am here. I advise you to do this, that, and that" and "I am available to help. What are your ideas and what did you do up to this point? How about doing this?". I don't say that this is your case, Oleg. I only say the danger is there. 

Sorry if my feedback is harsh, but I want to help the student, the mentors, and the project to succeed.

Let's leave it here and move constructively forward. There will always be a solution. 

I sincerely hope that we will soon be able to revisit these diverging points of view around a couple of beers, sacrificed to friendship and Open Source.

/- Jmm

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