Dear Drupalfolk: What to expect from your Git Migration Lead

It's official - the Drupal Association has selected me to be the 'Git Migration Lead.' I'm tremendously excited, and can't wait to knuckle down and get this migration DONE. I'll be launching full-tilt into the list of issues that stand between us and git goodness, but before I do, I want to take a minute to clarify how I understand and will be approaching this position.

It's not the DA's role to determine the direction of drupal.org, let alone Drupal itself. Rather, the DA exists to support and facilitate efforts that the community has already decided are worth pursuing. At least, that's how I understand it. Consequently, my role as git lead is primarily about ensuring this migration happens to the satisfaction of the community - not merely my own satisfaction. It helps that we've already got a well-established todo list, but that also requires I be open to input throughout the process. And that's the plan. In fact, I can't think of any part of this project that I don't plan on conducting in public, through a combination of the g.d.o group, in the issue queues, on twitter (I've started a new account just for this), over the dev list, and occasionally on this blog. There will be no shortage of means by which you can get information, give feedback, or - please! - help out (if nothing else, my contact form works).

I think publicizing this process is crucial because it's the best way to make sure we have the energy and participation necessary to ensure it actually happens. And at the end of the day, that's the crux of my responsibility. So I'll be doing a mix cheerleading, organizing volunteer energy, and when necessary, coding - whatever it takes to ensure that the migration is always moving forward. Which is exactly why the DA created this paid position: historically, a collective desire for big infra changes hasn't been enough. Someone's ass needs to be contractually on the line.

Of course, my position is temporary, and will only last through the initial migration (Phase 2). At that point, we're back to all-volunteer energy for further git improvements. So I have another goal for the migration process: we need to grow the group of people familiar with and responsible for our project infrastructure. My hope is that we can take all the interest and excitement over switching to git and cultivate that wider group. So make no mistake, if I get my hooks into you over the next few months, I won't be letting go when the DA stops signing my checks :) And besides, the reality is that those who participate most during phase 2 will have the most clout during phase 3…

Anyway - we all know how long this move from CVS has been coming. Now that it's here, let's not let make our community wait a day longer than it has to :)