[arch-dev-public] Status Report: 2007-12-11

[Roman Kyrylych]

2007/12/12, Aaron Griffin <aaronmgriffin at gmail.com>:
> ArchLinux Status Report, 2007-12-11
> ===================================

> == Completed Tasks ==

> * New netcfg scripts _still_ in [testing]
>
> I want to poke this item here. I'd like to get some yays/nays here. I dropped
> the ball on including the patches into an initscripts package in [testing] which
> replaces the current netcfg scripts.
>
> It's on my list - high priority.
>
> More details here: http://archlinux.org/news/362/

Everyone with WiFi please take a look here:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Network_Scripts#Testing
IIRC James also implemented some sort of PPP management in netcfg2 -
this needs testing as well.


> == Pending Tasks, Short Term ==

> * Bug tracker cleanup
>
> This weekend Roman is planning to do a big bug tracker overhaul and attempt to
> cleanup and consolidate our open bugs. Any help from the developers would be
> appreciated.
>
> I'd like to especially thank Allan McRae here too - I keep seeing him suggesting
> bugs be closed, and he's been helping Roman out here too. Thanks for the hard
> work. I'm very grateful.
>
> * Bug Squashing Day revamp
>
> We used to do official Bug Squashing days near the end of every month (second to
> last Sunday, or something to that effect), but these have fallen by the wayside
> due to Roman's awesome work.
>
> Even so, I'd like to get back in the swing of doing this, as it will help keep
> us all on track. Roman, would you like to help organize this? I will try to keep
> track of the dates and everything, but it'd be nice if you could spearhead the
> initiative.
>

I'd like it to happen on Saturday, 15th.
I will try to hang or #archlinux-bugs from 10:00 to 19:00 GMT+2 (and
then probably from 21:00 to 02:00 :-P),
and then from 10:00 on Sunday.
So I hope to cover all globe from Australia to Europe to North America. 8-)
If you don't have much time on Saturday - it doesn't meant you can't
take part in the Bug Day - usually the work continues after this.
Actually it should look like ~50-hours marathon from Friday to Sunday.

I'm keeping this page http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bug_Day_TODO
since our last Bug Day. (Thanks Allan for updating it for this Bug
Day!)
It contains old reports that are potential candidates for fixing
during Bug Day (often trivial things, reports with unknown status
etc.)
Feel free to add entries there, or better - you can fix them at any time. ;-)

> * Getting rid of CVS
>
> Last status report, I pointed this guy out. Roman responded with a vote for
> Jason's SVN proposal.
>
> In summary:
>
>    * Jason has provided us with an svn solution, where sub-directories control
>      the location of the package (i.e. package-name/repos/extra/PKGBUILD will
>      place the package into extra)
>    * Dan has provided us with a git solution that uses named branches to control
>      the location (i.e. a branch named "testing" has changes to PKGBUILDs
>      present only in the testing repo)
>
> I'm going to put my weight behind Jason's SVN proposal too, for the following
> reasons:
>
>    * There is no reason to manage our packages in a distributed manner
>    * SVN will be an easier transition for some users and developers unfamiliar
>      with the esoteric commands of git.
>    * It has a real implementation
>    * One can use the git-svn porcelain on top of this, to still get the full
>      power if git if they so wish.
>
> So, the next steps: Jason, can you provide us with some more details on your
> implementation, or perhaps something on gerolde as a preliminary system? I'd
> like to setup something side-by-side for people to use and to play with a bit.
> This way we can easily flesh out the hairier details.
>
> Paul, you did some similar work with repoman, yes? Do you have anything to add
> to this topic?

Details on Jason's implementation can be seen here:
http://archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2007-October/002308.html
with some simple tools to manage SVN.

I don't know the status of repoman, but I think we can benefit from
Phil's work on extending extrapkg (which went not much noticed at that
time):
http://www.archlinux.org/mailman/private/arch-dev/2007-July/005565.html

It would be nice to have a single utility (or set of "one task"
scripts) that will manage all we need.
(integrate Jason's and Phil's work into repoman? just because
"repoman" is cool name :-P)

> == Pending Tasks, Long Term ==
>
> * Perl policy implementation
>
> Kevin has been taking some of these on, and helping implement the perl policy.
> It's a big task, and any help from perl gurus around would be appretiated.
>
> http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/8374

xterminus is not active for a long time, but Firmicus can help with
it, I think, as he manages alot of perl packages in community repo.

> * Architecture Independent Repos
>
> We have pacman support (for the 3.1 release) done thanks to Roman. We now have
> an idea of where we want the new SCM changes to go. This means some rewriting of
> the DB scripts are in order here.
>
> So, with this in mind, we should be able to create these architecture
> independent repos as part of the same push. Don't you love it when things fall
> into place like that?
>
> Here's the internal (private) task for anyone interested in this:
> http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/8555

This is still on my todo, but I doubt I can implement it before New
Year due to the lack of time. :-( (I'm changing my job! More on this
later in another thread).

> * ArchCon 2009: Big Baaad Idea
>
> More details. Tom has suggested some dates for this. What do you guys think?
>
> http://archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2007-November/003310.html
>
> Pierre brought up a valid idea - we plan this around another convention that we
> have a presence at. Doing this at Froscon would cover our German/European
> contingent well, but we also have a chunk of developers on this side of the
> pond. It'd be nice if we could give an island somewhere in the middle of the
> Atlantic, but without massive volcanic activity, we're stuck with one side or
> the other.
>
> How to the Europeans feel about coming over here? And vice versa? Let's assume,
> for the sake of argument, that money isn't the issue here. Opinions?
>
> What about Canada? Birthplace of Arch AND it's not as dangerous as the US
> (hah!).

I prefer Canada much more over USA. :-P

-- 
Roman Kyrylych (Роман Кирилич)