As interest in PostgreSQL grows, so does the rate at which new patches are proposed. To maintain the high level of quality in PostgreSQL it is important that all patches be checked and reviewed, so that what gets added to the codebase is good quality.
Some of this evaluation requires a lot of expertise in the PostgreSQL core code, but most of it requires little development experience at all. The more initial checking and review gets done before patches get evaluated by the experts, the less work those experts have to do. So: please step up and review a patch. There are patch review guidelines on the wiki, and it’s quite an accessible process. Step right up if you want to contribute a little back to the software you use and rely on, or if there’s a particular enhancement you want to make sure goes into 9.3.
If you don’t feel up to reviewing the feature you’re interested in, you can still help by testing and initially reviewing something else, so others have more time to examine the complicated stuff. You can still help out.
I’ll be posting a series on patches proposed for 9.3, starting with today’s patch, Peter Eisentraut’s addition of a ALTER ROLE extension to change PostgreSQL settings (like work_mem, search_path, etc) for all users on all databases. The initial post explaining the patch is here and this is the commitfest entry.
To get involved, visit the current commitfest page, sign in with your PostgreSQL community login, and have a look at the list of patches needing review. If there’s one there that doesn’t have an existing reviewer listed, or that interests you, please get involved! Grab the patch, read the reviewer guidelines, and help make PostgreSQL better.