[Server-devel] XSCE | Proposing a quick turnaround 0.4.5 release

[Anish Mangal]

Since 0.4 was just released, it is a good moment to talk about future
development efforts. I spent this weekend thinking about the progress
we have made through this release, not just in terms of development
effort, but growth as a community. What follows in this email below is
a set of ideas and things to do and a proposal for a quick turnaround
0.4.5 release.

I have observed the community grow in numbers by a quite a bit from
the time we released 0.3. I believe we need to adopt new methods to
allow every member become productive in their own space, while
building foundations for equitable exchange of ideas consistent with
the free software/open source way.

= In terms of new features =
* Many folks have suggested quite a number of valuable features for
the 0.5 iteration [1], but I believe it will be easier to get to that
goal if we switch to ansible. George has also supported this proposal.
If the community at large decides that it is a sane idea to port to
ansible, doing it first makes sense. I have created a (WIP) feature
page for the same[2]. A lot of the ansible port has already been done
under the DXS project, so it should ideally be a matter of some coding
and a lot of testing.

= In terms of development process shifts =
* I propose we start following a feature proposal and selection
process similar to upstream sugar (or what it used to be). Basically,
the person or group proposing the feature creates a feature page
following a template [3], which contains all the necessary details to
make a go-no-go decision. Then it is discussed in a mailing list and
if need be, in an IRC meeting.

* Lets start using the bugtracker more (and formally so) [4]. A
bugtracker can be a very valuable resource for new developers wanting
to contribute and looking for things to do, and for keeping track of
project development progress.

= Volunteers for owning and maintaining different aspects of the project =
Some examples could be
* FAQ
* Wiki as a whole
* User-documentation
* Project development manager
* Coordinating with interested deployments
* Supported hardware platforms

== More visibility to community effort==
* Shift to github. I strongly believe that we need to shift our
codebase to github. I'm saying that even though the code is currently
hosted on AC infrastructure. The biggest benefit of moving to github
would be much better code visibility. It will make it easier for new
developers to join in the development process. We switched dextrose
server to github about a month and a bit ago, and will never look
back.
* Post notification of everything merged to the repository on IRC channel.
* Post notification of everything merged to the repository on the mailing list.

Just like code, the wiki also needs a lot of love, and there may be
many contributors willing to pitch in, so I propose that.
* Post notification of every wiki change to the IRC channel.
* Post notification of every wiki change to the mailing list.

= Crazy ideas =
* Have a forum. A place where Q&A's can be asked and answered in
human-understandable formats. (thought: perhaps look at how large we
are as a community and then decide).

[1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FVUFl6vry8u9b_lNSXvcWKN6hgVB-7Je4aTBpvq0QVg/edit
[2] http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/feature/port-to-ansible
[3] http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Community_Edition/feature/template
[4] https://sugardextrose.org/projects/xsce