OpenJDK Code review system - Request for use cases and requirements

[Alan Bateman]

Mohan Pakkurti wrote:
> Hello
>
> I am looking at undertaking some projects to help improve the infrastructure for OpenJDK. 
>
> One of the systems that is often requested is an open code review system, and I want to understand what we would want from this.
>
> I came across this blog entry http://blogs.sun.com/mr/entry/open_webrevs and want to get this discussion started again by asking you for input.
>
> What use cases would you have for this system?
> What features would you like to see in this system? 
> What other systems and processes do you see the code review system integrate with?
> Any suggestions for systems we should consider for this?
> Do you have any other comments on this topic?
>
> Cheers
> Mohan
I see all the replies so far are from Oracle folks and it would be good 
to get input from others too. It may also be useful to see what other 
open projects are using, if anything.

One thing about cr.openjdk.java.net is that it's usefulness is broader 
than just hosting webrevs so it would be good to keep it as it's a very 
handy place to push preliminary webrevs, documents, and other items for 
discussions on the lists.

Another thing that isn't clear from this mail is whether this is just 
infrastructure or whether it implies process too. I've no doubt that 
many areas will want to continue to discuss patches and changes via the 
mailing lists even if there is a ReviewBoard/equivalent available. One 
could envisage a discussion about a bug or area of code on the mailing 
list before the ready-to-be-reviewed changes are published to the review 
system. You asked about integration with other systems and being able to 
link to prior discussions in the archives or in the (new) bug database 
would be useful.

I didn't see command line access mentioned in any of the comments so 
far. Many of us keep our repositories on servers and it would be be 
great to be able to run a shell command to publish a change for review. 
On the review side then having the ability to wget the patch file 
without authentication would be useful too as sometimes it's easier to 
just grab the patch and try out the changes.

On the diffs then I think Jon summarized it well and being able to 
support delta webrevs/equivalent would be very useful as we often go 
through many iterations where the bulk of the changes are reviewed and 
we're spinning on a final few issues.

I don't have any comments on the workflow side of this except that folks 
interested in an area should be able to subscribe so that they get 
notifications of reviews and discussion for the areas that they are 
interested in. Also the person seeking a review should be able to accept 
reviews from folks that he/she didn't originally nominate to review.

-Alan.