Today's English Expression 19/30 · Stage: Receiving and replying to reviews. All example sentences are made up for this article. They are not taken from actual repository comments, and function names are examples.
Table of Contents
- At a Glance
- 1. Meaning and Nuance
- 2. Examples
- 3. Similar Expressions and Differences
- 4. Common Mistakes by Korean Speakers
- 5. One-Line Practice
- Sample Answer
- References
At a Glance
| Expression | Not a blocker, but ... / (non-blocking) |
| Meaning | Not a blocking comment, but ... |
| Where to use | Prefix or suffix of review comments, meetings |
| Politeness | Gentle. Relieves pressure on the other person |
1. Meaning and Nuance
"Block" means to stop, and a "blocker" is something that prevents work from proceeding. In development, a blocker refers to an issue where "if this is not resolved, we cannot move to the next step." Terms like release blocker and merge blocker are used. Therefore, "Not a blocker" means "this feedback does not need to be fixed to merge".
Review comments carry different weights. Some are bugs that must be fixed, some are improvements that are good to have, and others are simply reference information. If these are not distinguished, the author will treat every comment as mandatory, making the PR endlessly long. Therefore, Google's code review guidelines recommend clarifying the weight by adding prefixes like Nit, Optional (or Consider), and FYI to comments. "Not a blocker" is an everyday expression that serves the same role as these prefixes.
When reviewers use it, they usually connect the suggestion with but. Structures like "Not a blocker, but it might be worth ..." mean "it doesn't block, but it's worth considering." When authors use it, they ask "Is this a blocking issue?" to check priorities. This question is not rude; rather, it gives the reviewer an opportunity to clarify their intent.
2. Examples
Situation 1: Reviewer's suggestion
Not a blocker, but it might be worth adding a short comment explaining why we retry three times.
"It might be worth -ing" means "it might be worth doing," which is a regular expression to soften suggestions.
Situation 2: Using it as a prefix
(non-blocking) This could be simplified with
slices.Contains(), but the current version is fine too.
"Non-blocking" in parentheses is often used at the beginning of a review comment.
Situation 3: When the author asks about priority
Thanks for the suggestion! Is this a blocker for this PR, or would you be okay with handling it in a follow-up?
It asks if it's a blocker, and if not, suggests handling it in a follow-up PR (Episode 10).
3. Similar Expressions and Differences
- Optional: ... A prefix from Google's guidelines. It means "it's a good idea, but not strictly necessary."
- Nit: ... A nitpick (Episode 14). It is better to fix it, but the impact is small. It has a narrower scope than "Not a blocker."
- This is a must-fix. / Blocking. Conversely, an indication that it must be fixed. Used when there is a clear reason, such as a security issue or risk of data loss.
4. Common Mistakes by Korean Speakers
- Treating a reviewer's "Not a blocker" comment as something that must be fixed, thereby significantly expanding the PR. The author can decide whether to fix it or not. If you choose not to fix it, reply briefly.
- Corrected sentence: Good idea. I'll leave it for now to keep this PR small.
- Is it blocking? Being short, it can sound somewhat blunt.
- Corrected sentence: Just to clarify, is this a blocker for merging?
- This is not block. "Block" is a verb and a noun, but "blocker" or "blocking" is correct here.
- Corrected sentence: This is not blocking.
5. One-Line Practice
Write the following content as a comment from the reviewer's perspective.
This doesn't block merging, but what do you think about lowering this log level to debug?
Sample Answer
Not a blocker, but what do you think about lowering this log level to debug?
"What do you think about -ing?" turns a suggestion into a question, leaving the decision to the author. Using "Could we lower ...?" is also natural.
Titi's Word. Not all feedback carries the same weight. Adding the weight in a single word lets the author know where to focus their effort.
References
- Google Engineering Practices, How to write code review comments (Label comment severity): https://google.github.io/eng-practices/review/reviewer/comments.html
- Merriam-Webster, "blocker": https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blocker