IMO it's time to make the development process more organized.
This is my version of what I would like to see as an official set of rules for PHP community.
PHP Seven Commandments
1. Thou shalt obey the Release Master.
2. Thou shalt not commit any patches except for bugfixes after RC stage has started.
Even bugfixes must be discussed with the release master before committing.
3. Remember the coding standards and keep them holy.
4. Thou shalt not forget to add comments to thy code, especially if the code is tricky.
5. Thou shalt not fix a bug only in one of the branches unless it did not exist in the others.
The rule of thumb is to fix it in HEAD first and then backport it.
Forwardporting is not appreciated unless it happens in a matter of hours.
6. Major development goes in HEAD, other branches are created for bugfixes and minor improvements.
7. Thou shalt discuss all new features in internals@.
If nobody pays attention to your proposal, it makes little sense to implement it.
9. Anyone not agreeing to previously mentioned terms shall get it's access removed.
10. Comment and document what you do so it is not only implemented but usuable.
Zend does more job for PHP than everybody else in the aggregate, so please stop bashing Zend for no reason.
Also I don't think the rules are about "do or lose karma", it's more about "do or you'll be forced to do so".
>9. Anyone not agreeing to previously mentioned terms shall get it's access removed.
Remove access? Why bother, just kill the guilty person.
> 10. Comment and document what you do so it is not only implemented but usuable.
I don't understand this one completely.
Yes, of course Zend does mistakes, but then who doesn't?
Only those who do nothing.
If you dislike something Zend does, please remember that PHP is open source project and you can always participate (at this point all the criticizers start to say "no time", "no skills", "noway" etc, but they apparently have enough time & skills to criticize, don't they?).
>Are we all under the pressure of self-censorship when the issue is about Zend
Self-censorship? What are you smoking there?
> I don't understand this one completely.
I think it means sure a feature is nice but if it's not documented then few users will know to use it, and even fewer will know how! Regarding the comments, I'm guessing it means #4.