Note that this page has been updated quickly to reflect that fact that all new issues are handled on the Mantis Server. Pages linked from this page may still refer to (obsolete) BFAV and sending posts to the mailing list. For Fixes and Enhancements the process of using the mailing list and (obsolete) BFAV has been deprecated and you should instead substitute using the Mantis Server wherever you see that.!
The harvesting process is the process by which fixes and enhancements submitted to the Mantis Server are reviewed by everyone (including you) and approved by The Harvesters and then included in the main Squeak release.
Here's a simple one-sentence overview of the process:
If someone posts a Fix or Enhancement to the Mantis Server, and then a Harvester approves it, then it will be incorporated into the current Squeak alpha image soon afterward, barring any objections.
Here's the process step-by-step:
1. Submission
A Fix or Enhancement "submission" is posted to the Mantis Server by someone in the Squeak community.
An arbitrary amount of time goes by during which anyone may post comments or recommendations about the submission. This is your chance to affect what gets into the image - you "vote" for something by adding information on it. By drawing reviews, tests and fixes from the community, a submission approaches integration.
A harvester may then look at the submission, and add additional comments indicating that the submission cannot be approved, or that it could be approved if some changes were made, or that it is now approved.
The decision to approve a submission is a judgement call made by a harvester. However, favorable comments and testing/review tags by others (in step 2) will make it much more likely that a given submission will be approved. Harvesters should use Harvesting guidelines to help decide when to approve submissions.
If the submission is approved, the harvester will then incorporate the submission into the official Squeak release by adding the submission to the update stream. (This used to be done by a single Harvest Master, but now any harvester can do this.)
The submission may first go into the internal/testing update stream, and then may be released to the public update stream a short time later.
Who can do this: The Harvesters. (Except for raising objections, which can be done by anyone.)
