Joomla! you got Github all wrong!

Participation is a thankless chore. Contributing code to Joomla! should be easy and enjoyable. Instead it is slow, painful and downright difficult.

Github is a marvellous resource for collaborating on software development and one that, if embraced, could spur the development of Joomla! considerably. Neglecting the tools Github provides seems like a major mistake for Joomla!, one that hurts the whole project.

At first glance 🔗

Imagine for a moment that I am experienced developer (Use your imagination!) discovering Joomla! for the first time. I fall in love with it instantly of course, but then my keen developer eyes notice a bug! No problem, I know what to do;

Log-in to GitHub Clone Joomla! Fix the code Create a pull request Right? Wrong! Where’s your decoder ring?

Welcome to phase 2, the painful, cryptic and disheartening bit. 🔗

In my experience, one of two things is likely to happen now;

Nothing, you get no response and your pull request just sits there gathering e-dust. Here’s a couple of PRs that illustrate this nicely: PR129 and PR136. You get told to post a new tracker on Joomlacode, typically without any explanation of how to do that or why it is required. I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a problem with both of these options. Open source is about people

I believe that once someone has made the decision, and taken action, to try and contribute to the project the very least they deserve is a small thank you. Their code might stink, but they are still trying to contribute; contribution and community development should be encouraged. The easiest way to do this is to thank people for their efforts. I’d like to see more responses like this:

Thank you for contributing to Joomla! As a community project, we need 2 successful tests of your code before it’s reviewed by one of our maintainers. If approved it will be committed at that time. We’ll update this PR with details as we go through this process. A response like this may mean this person will be happy to contribute again. No responses in 8 months will pretty much ensure that they won’t.

Joomlacode is an Enigma machine 🔗

Seriously. I would have trouble in purposely designing a more awkward or unwieldy interface if I tried. Faced with the inpenetrable depths of Joomlacode tracker I imagine many potential contributors simply give up and go looking for a CMS where they do allow ‘outsiders’ to contribute code.

Joomlacode is open to all! 🔗

Yes, in the same way as the Temple of Doom was in Indiana Jones. Few in number are those that manage to safely negotiate a passage to the ‘inner chamber’.

Build what? 🔗

The secret key: Yes, you can sign up for an account, you just can’t use it to log in: PR259 The treasure map: You’ll need one to find the button to create a tracker item. Think that’s in the large and confusing menus? Think again. Joomlacode tracker image(450Kb). The ancient tounge: What’s required in the obligatory ‘build’ field? There’s no explanation. Oh, a huge list of assignees that isn’t in alphabetical order? Great! I just fill this in and then link back to the Pull Request on Github right? Of course, how wonderful. So, what do you propose?

Simple. Let’s encourage true open community development by removing barriers to contribution. Let’s also not forget to say thank you when someone does contribute

GitHub has the tools to do this, and do it well. Code can be committed, peer-reviewed and discussed easily and transparently on GitHub. Doing so will foster community spirit, encourage participation and bring the rich rewards of rapid development to Joomla!

For the sake of Joomla!, and because I love Joomla!, let’s embrace the tools GitHub provides. Now, whose with me and the octocat ?