Office hours is definitely a good idea – it would help revealing the certain reasons you mentioned but it will take time. I was thinking also about going through existing p2 bugs and updating the wiki with relevant information –
unfortunately if done for itself it could be even more time consuming.
So what I would propose is combining both – you may ask people having questions on IRC to update the wiki. You may also ask contributors to document new features or to update the wiki for the component they work on.
Given that existing p2 components are not so many and being a community interested in variety of use cases, “information sharing” topic would be covered relatively fast without spending too much effort and time at once.
One comment on keeping the discussions in the bug reports – although the ease of referencing them later is a good reason, it makes it almost impossible to find something if one isn’t explicitly pointed to. In order to let people find
what they look for by themselves, discussions could be indexed somehow. For example bug description pattern:
“[engine] End user support for profile removal“
is a nice attempt in this direction but since it’s not adopted everywhere, one cannot rely on it.
Also there could be other Eclipse projects with useful practices in that area which may be beneficial to p2.
Regarding priorities, I guess it’s difficult to set priority on each bug or idea. What seems easier is identifying which of these are less likely to happen soon and communicate them to the interested party. Thus the community would
help people focus on tasks which would bring immediate value to both sides. On the other hand it would be transparent to people when and whether they could expect a new feature or fix to come up.
I disagree that the core code is complex – from what I’ve seen, p2 code is really apprehensible and this is a great achievement of the whole p2 team J
Thanks for your time,
Katya
From: p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of DJ Houghton
Sent: vendredi 23 septembre 2011 15:19
To: P2 developer discussions
Subject: Re: [p2-dev] 3.8 / Juno wishlist
We recognize that what you are saying is a problem and are willing to try and figure out a solution. The core code (framework, p2, etc) is complex, poorly documented, and often things are done for a certain reason which isn't immediately visible to newcomers. We are hoping that by providing ongoing discussions in the bug reports as well as by being available on IRC (hence the new "office hours") that it will help ease the transition for people who are willing to work on problems but aren't sure where to start or how things work in a particular area.
The p2 project is lucky in that although we are a small group, almost everyone working on the project is from a different company so there is a wide variety of backgrounds and use cases at our disposal. Of course this sometimes makes planning difficult. Priorities of what to work on are generally discussed in the weekly meeting and overall direction of the project is lead by the project lead and the members of the PMC.
I'm not sure if this answers your questions but if you have ideas that would help enable newcomers to the project and make things more welcoming, we are definitely open to suggestions.
p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 2011/09/22 11:39:03 AM:
> From: "Todorova, Katya" <katya.todorova@xxxxxxx>
> To: P2 developer discussions <p2-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: 2011/09/22 11:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [p2-dev] 3.8 / Juno wishlist
> Sent by: p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> @ DJ: Thank you for the “equinox.p2-inbox” hint, it was very useful.
>
> I’d like to participate in the project activities, I just don’t
> know how they are organized or how I could help. I would appreciate
> any suggestions you might have.
>
> In my opinion, working on random fixes and docs could be tricky for
> someone who is not really familiar with the project. As mentioned
> during the p2 call, sometimes there is no documentation - I think
> that, no matter how well the code is written,
> assumptions made using the code exclusively (without knowledge of
> the concept behind it and existing use cases) could often turn out wrong.
> I understand that it would be nice if participants could progress by
> themselves but working on a topic of one’s own liking may often turn
> into fruitless discussion, if it doesn’t fit the project vision.
> That’s why I asked about priorities on the call –
> having a community guy interested in getting something done in a
> reasonable time frame (e.g. 1 release) could smooth out the process a lot.
>
> This kind of support would bring the focus that most of beginners
> don’t have and would ensure that the requirements and scope are
> clear. It would also build confidence in understanding p2 concepts
> and would naturally result in helping other people.
>
> Kind regards,
> Katya
>
>
> From: p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> On Behalf Of DJ Houghton
> Sent: mercredi 21 septembre 2011 16:39
> To: P2 developer discussions
> Subject: Re: [p2-dev] 3.8 / Juno wishlist
>
> To build on that particular point about bugzilla. To stay on top and
> involved, we recommend people to follow the equinox.p2-inbox user in
> bugzilla (log into Bugzilla, then edit your mail preferences to
> watch the equinox.p2-inbox@xxxxxxxxxxx user). This allows you to
> keep an eye on things get a feeling for the types of bugs which are
> coming in and help determine what users feel the hot issues are.
>
> And more generally around participation, we also appreciate if
> people are not only focused on their own issues but contribute to
> the general activity of the project, such bug triaging, random
> fixes, docs, answering questions on IRC, etc.
>
> Thanks.
>
> p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 2011/09/17 09:23:46 PM:
>
> > From: Pascal Rapicault <pascal@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > To: P2 developer discussions <p2-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Date: 2011/09/17 09:24 PM
> > Subject: [p2-dev] 3.8 / Juno wishlist
> > Sent by: p2-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I just published a draft plan for Juno [1]. This is not a committed
> > plan, but an invitation to contribute to p2.
> > Please go ahead, review and ask questions. If you are interested in
> > contributing to an item or you find an item is tailored for you
> > (Thomas, Meng :)), please let us know on this channel.
> > Of course the list is not exhaustive and if you want to add items
> > you are willing to work on contact us here too.
> >
> > Thx for your interest,
> >
> > PaScaL
> >
> > [1] http://wiki.eclipse.org/Equinox/Plan/Juno/p2
> > _______________________________________________
> > p2-dev mailing list
> > p2-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> > https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/p2-dev
> _______________________________________________
> p2-dev mailing list
> p2-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
> https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/p2-dev
