ITP: sourceforge -- integrated development hosting
I'm afraid I did not Cc: d-devel at first. This is what was submitted
into the BTS:
----- BEGIN -----
>From <http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=756&group_id=1>:
SourceForge is a free hosting service for Open Source developers which
offers, among other things, a CVS repository, mailing lists, bug
tracking, message forums, task management software, web site hosting,
permanent file archival, full backups, and total web-based
administration.
The license is GNU GPL, and the thing is mainly done in PHP (although
it also uses a bit of Perl in the backend).
----- END -----
And this is how I intend to proceed (an excerpt of the current
content of the debian/README.Debian file, if you must know):
----- BEGIN -----
I'll use a pre-release numbering scheme similar to Branden Robinson's,
except I'll use more phases.
Phase 1 (package revisions 2.0-0phase1v1 to 2.0-0phase1v<$BIGNUM>)
------------------------------------------------------------------
This phase will concentrate on the web services that only involve PHP
and the database. This includes account and project creation and
management, the bug-tracking system, the task manager, the forums, the
support manager, the user's page and the software map. Probably also
the patch manager and the news system, maybe the doc manager.
These packages will probably break everything everytime you'll
install them, so I won't even try to provide smooth upgrades. Yet
I'll provide an apt-get'able directory for the brave.
Phase 2 (2.0-0phase2v*)
-----------------------
This phase will get into the system a bit more and end by proposing
features that require access to real files and services on the system:
the end of phase2 will offer all the items marked "maybe" in phase1,
plus the FTP and file releases services, as well as integration with
the MTA.
At this stage I'll try and stabilize the package a bit, so that from
phase3 Sourceforge can be cleanly upgraded with a reasonably low risk
of breakage.
Phase 3 (2.0-0phase3*)
----------------------
This phase will take care of the services that require modifications
to existing software (in particular, CVS and CVS-Web will have to be
patched) or deep meddling with the system (DNS and web virtual
hosting, Unix account creation with libnss-probably-mysql). Mailing
lists should be operational by the end of phase3 if not earlier.
Phase 4 (2.0-0phase4*)
----------------------
That one should wrap it up before the big show, completing all the
tidbits that were previously overlooked: the software foundries, the
search engine, and basically everything I can think of that I forgot
before.
Face it, I've got to get it out sometime
----------------------------------------
By that time, I should (hopefully) be a full-fledged Debian
developer and I'll upload to unstable. If I'm not yet, I'll call for
some thick-skinned volunteer to sponsor me and upload it for me. That
could be called -0phase5, but it'll be high time to call it
sourceforge-2.0-1. And -2.0-2 and -2.0-3 and so on, 'cause I suspect
there will be bugs.
I'm not yet sure if the BTS can be used to track bugs on a package
that's not in Debian yet, but if it can I will probably encourage its
use even for very early packages, and take into consideration all the
reports I find there. The only exception will be for bug-reports
telling me that the upstream codebase I'm packaging is out-of-date,
see next paragraph. These ones will get closed immediately (well, as
soon as I see them anyway), with minimal comment, or merged with the
first one that happened.
I choose to package the Sourceforge released code (labeled 2.0 by
the SF crew). I know that the development version has since the 2.0
release been made accessible by anonymous CVS. I know that tremendous
enhancements have been committed into this CVS, not the least of which
are internationalisation and localisation. I know that bugs have been
fixed. Yet I don't feel like packaging a big piece of intrusive
software like Sourceforge while running after the backlog and tracking
its evolution at the same time. Don't be alarmed, I will eventually
follow the upstream evolution, but only after the sourceforge-2.0-*
has stabilised a bit and the bugs in the BTS are only (or mostly) bugs
that have already been fixed upstream instead of problems coming from
the packaging.
----- END -----
As said above, I'm a prospective new maintainer. Read: I'm young
and inexperienced but full of good will. So I'll take any comments on
the above roadmap.
Roland.
--
Roland Mas
That's one of the good fings about not existin'; they leave you alone most
of the time. -- in My Hero (Tom Holt)
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