What is the problem with ports PR reaction delays?

[Yuri]

On 01/25/2014 05:43, Bernhard Fröhlich wrote:
> With the scripts it should be possible to fetch the patch of a PR, apply
> and commit it to your redports repository and do additional changes until
> you are okay with it. What is still missing is a script that helps
> committing the changes to the FreeBSD tree but it's really not that
> complicated to write that.

This sounds like a very manual process again. Today it is already 
manual. This only automates the patching step.

> be more specific and name the problem, if you mentioned it?
>
> The raised concerns were that automatic build testing might result in less
> testing on committer side. I agree that this might happen and automatic
> build testing is only one part of what committers need to do. A huge
> backlog and no response for months is definitely nothing we want.

But what exactly do committers test that can't be automated? Automatic 
system could install the port with dependencies into the blank 
installation, check syntax correctness, run 'lint' on it, verify that it 
installs/uninstalls cleanly and doesn't leave residue, etc etc. What is 
beyond that?
I am trying to understand, what would the general ports expert without 
the intimate knowledge of this particular package catch, that automated 
system won't be able to catch?

Yuri