Re: commiting bug fixes to other peoples packages (was RE: [PEAR-DEV] #25060 [NEW]: Math_Integer/Integer/gmp.php uses raisError () instead of
raiseError())

Hi! nicos@php.net wrote:

We have a number of maintainers that don't even do basic QA of their own packages, such as comparing uppercase strings against get_class (i believe 3 or 4 packages do this) Waiting 2 months for a 1 line fix that anyone can make because a maintainer isn't around borders on insanity. Whats the point of having any centralization at all if maintainers aren't getting help on easy fixes they miss. -joshua eichorn

Finally someone said it.

Yes, the real question here is not 'whether packages should be touched by someone other than maintainer' but 'what to do with orphaned packages'. PEAR has lots of these, and most of 'em are not officially orphaned but have some maintainers listed who don't have time/desire/knowledge to fix or even apply the available fixes. Should we respect their 'territorial instinct' and deal with the fact that users will (rightfully) claim that PEAR is a dump of unmaintained code or should we 'help' them fix their packages and possibly have 'take my ball and go home' shows after that? That's the question that the PEAR community is, IMHO, afraid to answer. And I doubt that the Most Inner Circle (aka PEAR group) will have the courage either.