Infrastructure for the community
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Transcript of Infrastructure for the community
Master on Free Software
Infrastructure for the community
Dynamics of the libre software community
Israel Herraiz<[email protected]>
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