Master on Free Software

Infrastructure for the community

Dynamics of the libre software community

Israel Herraiz<herraiz@gsyc.es>

A Coruña, November 16th 2007

Master on Free Software

What a project needs is...

● Communication among its members● Skilled people on the communication

technologies● All the tools are needed because you are

not working alone● You have to be aware of the rest of the

work● You have to make the rest be aware of

your work

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Tools

● Remote● Keep record of everything● Not only tools but valuable sources of

information

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Information management

● Automated tools are important● But the crucial factor is people● Tools are only that: tools

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List of basic tools

● Web site● Mailing lists● Version Control● Bug Tracking● IRC

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Mailing lists: minimal requirements

● List management software– i.e., Mailman

● Email and web (un)subscribing● Digest and on-the-fly modes● Moderation● Administrative interface● Manipulation of headers● Archiving

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Netiquette in mailing lists

● Write intelligible messages● Some acronyms are ok though:

– IMHO In My Humble Opinion– YMMV Your Mileage May Vary– BTW By The Way– ROTFL Rolling on the Floor, Laughing– GISY Google is your friend

● Some other acronyms are not ok (RTFM)

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Posting style

● Details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style

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Top posting

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Top posting

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Bottom posting

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Inline reply

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Headers of a typical message to a list

● Let's see how a message looks like● Using our list freeswmaster● Most of the archives strips out some

headers

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Reply-to the controversy

● Reply to list?● Reply to original author?● A matter of taste● http://www.unicom.com/pw/reply-to-harmful.html

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Archives

● Prompt updating● Referential stability● Backups● Thread support● Searchability

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Some places to look for archives

● Google and Google Groups● The Mail Archive● GMANE● http://apache.markmail.org/● MARC (Mailing List ARChives)● Soon

– http://flossmetrics.org– http://researchfriendly.org

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Version control

● See Introduction to Subversion during the Introduction course

● In this course, advanced topics● Research using the Version Control

System

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Log of the version control

● Valuable source of information● Highly used for research purposes● Commit messages vs original log● Some examples of research will be shown

in this course

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Example of results: CIA

● http://cia.vc/● Using the commit messages sent to the

commit mailing list

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Example of results: Libresoft.es

● CVSAnalY web interface● CVSAnalY whole SF.net dataset● http://libresoft.es/Results/

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Bug trackers

● Issue tracking systems● Life cycle of a bug● Many software systems for bug tracking

– Bugzilla– GNATS– Issue Tracker in Gforge– Trac

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Life cycle of a bug

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Recommendations

● Always report bugs...● ...but make sure that it is a bug● ...and it has not yet been reported● Provide test cases, memory dumps, etc● Provide concise information about your

system– Are you using the original sources or a

package of your distribution?– Which version?

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IRC

● Synchronous communication system● Channels● More informal than mailing lists● Typically, not archiving

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Pasting in a channel

● Don't flood the channel● Use a paste site

– Pastebin

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Other tools

● Wikis● Web site● Forums● Blogs● Planets

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Canned hosting or own solutions?

● Many sites provide hosting for libre software projects

● SourceForge.net● Morfeo-Project.org● Easier management of the community● Large and “traditional” projects prefer

customized solutions

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Questions?

● Take a look at the materials of the course● Deep details are provided