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An issue looks like this:

  • Author: There is this issue.
  • Me: Offer some workaround.
  • Owner: This fix should be made. Someone can make a PR for this.

I wait for 2 days for Author to repsond but there is none:

  • Me: I will make a PR unless Author wants to go for it.

Is this good ettiquete to make a PR on someone else's reported issue? How long should I wait from the last comment until I make a PR? Just for context the issue is very easy to fix and there're only 3 small changes needed and I was already a contributor to that project while issue OP is not.

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    Usually, when I report an issue, I do not want to fix it myself :) If I do want that, I'd either provide the fix along with it, or say so outright. In all other cases I will be very happy if there is a helpful person scratching my itch :)
    – planetmaker
    Nov 4 at 7:42

1 Answer 1

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You are massively overthinking this. The author of the issue has given no indication they are working on a fix, or want to work on a fix, the owner has requested a fix be made, you can do a fix, just do it.

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    Thanks guess I overthought it as you said. I am just new to OS contribution and don't want to be "competitive" if it's the case.
    – Luke Vo
    Nov 3 at 18:47
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    Bless you, but it's not competitive, it's collaborative. If A comes back and feels (s)he has a better fix, (s)he can make an alternative pull request. Maybe O will prefer his/her offer, and back your fix out, and add his/hers. Maybe O will see virtue in both of your approaches, and author a new fix that combines the best of both. Maybe O will reject your submissions, you decide to fork the project, and your fix is so good that the community comes with you, and you end up the new project leader. The joy of free software is that one good idea doesn't succeed at the expense of the others.
    – MadHatter ♦
    Nov 3 at 21:31
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    I would say that "it's not competitive" is somewhat optimistic and naive... but it's definitely a lot less competitive than OP is assuming, and most people are usually reasonable.
    – Glenn Willen
    Nov 4 at 4:33
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    I would further note that usually an issue report is made because the reporter actively wants someone else to fix it. An issue report is, in effect, a request for someone else to fix the issue. If the issue reporter wanted to fix it themselves, they could have gone ahead and prepared a PR already.
    – Douglas
    Nov 5 at 20:51
  • As someone who has posted an issue for some FOSS software... Definitely wanted someone else, more familiar with how that thing worked to solve the problem for me... It didn't happen and I eventually came up with a fix... But I really hoped someone else would have solved it for me.
    – Questor
    Nov 6 at 21:48

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