[arch-users] By way of corroboration...

        [much additional context worth reading closely if you're
        "playing along at home", then:]

       However, it seems highly likely to me that the patches in question
       simply don't fit with Linus's (or your) priorities at the moment in
       some way.  


You're totally right.  It looks like Linus appears to be mostly
playing the gatekeeper game (so patches should _really_ be going
through lieutenants) and King is bitching that he doesn't have a
reliable direct route to Linus.   AC is trying to clue King in.

I still think there's an "automated patch-queue" issue here -- but let
me add that the patch queue should reflect the gatekeeper tree.  That
makes the tree tangible to lkml posters.  It makes it a game.  It can
shift the expectation from "lemme post a change and get it into
Linus's tree" to "lemme shepherd my change from a leaf node to the
root of the gatekeeper tree".  Anyway, there's a bunch of bookkeeping
that's ripe to be automated.


        Linus has also said publicly that if what you want to do
        doesn't fit his current priorities, he'll just drop your
        patches on the floor.


IMO, given the scale and success of his effort, it's remarkable that
he accepts patches from anyone other than a lieutenant _at all_.  Even
if he wants to be a hobbiest who scans lkml or an mbox for nifty
things -- he should adopt a (possibly transparent) avatar for that
separate role and just let the famous Linus be a famous and strict
root-node gatekeeper.


        Linus is not primarily a code filter, he's a design filter.

Yup.  That's why they're called _trusted_ lieutenants.


      So it seems to me that get any joy (for the developers) out of
      future automation, it's going to have to somehow target the
      design aspect of the release cycle.  But we have no idea how to
      do that.  Or do you?

That's a multi-disciplinary question.  I'm sleepy right now - I'll
maybe try to reply to that question tomorrow.  Briefly, and roughly
speaking, Linus should only have to communicate design subtleties to
his immediate lieutenants -- it's part of the acceptance criteria for
his gatekeeper role.  Those lieutenants can pass it on to other
contributors.

sleepy -- sorry.
-t