PATCHES: Release Suggestion

[Joe Doran]

I have read on the lists that patches are slow to be integrated into
releases.

So far I have come across two patches submitted during last couple of
weeks that are relevant to my systems. 

I can think of a number of reasons why: Bad coding, breaks other code,
too many to consider testing and so on....

I know that patches are placed on a patch web page where they are
considered for integration and if accepted will be integrated. This
requires that someone be it Gerry or Jeremy etc. look at the patch and
review it before integration. 

My suggestion is to make the patch testing public. A coder could
classify his patch  bug or system fix, on what system, version,
functionality etc. Joe Public can use this patch if badly needed and
provide feed back on web page. Did it work?, Did it break anything? How
badly did they need the patch 1to5. This info could then be used to
compile a top ten patch/bug requests to be considered. These could then
be scrutinized by the team for integration. 

What do people think?

Joe.