First Draft Development Process Proposal

[Bryan Berry]

Here in nepal, here are the key features we need listed in order of
priority:

1) Be able to remove activities to free up space, including activities
that come pre-installed. For example, our current E-Paath activities
already use up 105 MB and that only covers 1 month of coursework! We
intend to have 12 months worth of activities so it will be crucial that
students can remove activities easily as necessary, including
pre-installed ones like Scratch or TurtleArt

2) Need to be able to launch activities from the web browser. We are
moving towards html and likely Moodle to organize our activities
together w/ supplementary reading and other materials. The students will
use an offline html page and click on links to launch a python or EToys
activity in a separate window, and not w/in the browser.

This functionality is essential in order to put the activities w/in
lesson plans.

3) Stable collaboration :) I know this is a hard one.

I believe Trac tickets already exist for #1 and #2, filed by me or by
Bernie.

4) Longer battery life, it's ok w/ us if you turn off the mesh while the
XO goes into suspend mode.


hope this helps

--------------------------------
Message: 4
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:31:06 -0400
From: Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com>
Subject: First Draft Development Process Proposal
To: devel at lists.laptop.org
Message-ID: <486507BA.2060106 at laptop.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Hi All,

I posted a first pass Release Process Overview.

See: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_Process_Home

Its based on work done by Michael and others on this list. It needs a
lot more work, but I hope we can start using it soon and improve it over
time.

I could use help fleshing it out and closing the open items listed in
the final section. Let me know if anyone wants to work with me on that.

The goals of this process are:
1 - Ensure high quality releases which meet the needs of users in a
timely fashion.
2 - Maximize the participation, productivity and enthusiasm of the open
source community.
3 - Create a predictable process which helps users and developers plan
for the future.

I want to minimize the process overhead as much as possible. If its not
helping make coders life easier then its not likely to make better code.

Please comment, question, augment and criticize as needed. I especially
want to know if it makes sense, looks useful and meets the goals
outlined above.

Comments on linked pages also welcome, especially:
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Releases
and
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Unscheduled_software_release_process

Any input welcome.

Thanks,

Greg Smith
OLPC Product Manager

PS - This is my first e-mail to the list since I changed from volunteer
to employee. It's truly an honor to have this chance to work for OLPC
and to learn from you all!

Right now, I'm 90% focused on gathering input so I'm open to a call or
e-mail exchange with anyone who is contributing to the project. If you
want to have a brief call, just send me an agenda and a few open times
7AM - 6PM US ET, Mon - Fri.