Changes between Version 61 and Version 62 of SummerOfCode


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Timestamp:
Mar 23, 2008, 9:58:32 PM (16 years ago)
Author:
jmpp@…
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  • SummerOfCode

    v61 v62  
    1111Applications should be done online, on the [http://code.google.com/soc/2008/ Google SoC website]. You will find more information on their page on [http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-announce/web/guide-to-the-gsoc-web-app-for-student-applicants "Student Applications"]. Initial student applications [http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=60325&topic=10729 "must be"] submitted by 5 pm PDT, March 26th, 2008.
    1212
    13 There are several things to consider. We are willing to support and mentor students who want to gain an experience by working on the macports project. We have many ideas for potential internship subjects, yet we are open to anything that is both interesting and relevant to the MacPorts project. Motivated students do not necessarily need to know Tcl language beforehand, especially if they already know several script languages such as python, ruby or perl.
     13There are several things to consider. We are willing to support and mentor students who want to gain an experience by working on The MacPorts Project. We have many ideas for potential internship subjects, yet we are open to anything that is both interesting and relevant to MacPorts. Motivated students do not necessarily need to know Tcl language beforehand, especially if they already know several script languages such as python, ruby, php or perl.
    1414
    1515The best way to apply is to first make contact with us, either by sending a mail to the MacPorts developer [http://lists.macosforge.org/mailman/listinfo/macports-dev "mailing list"], to the potential mentors listed below, or to irc members on #macports on [http://freenode.net/ freenode].
    … …  
    2323||Ernest Prabhakar ||gui     ||drernie ||
    2424||James Berry      ||mpwa, dependencies    ||jberry  ||
     25||Juan Manuel Palacios  || logging   ||jmpp   ||
    2526||Rainer Mueller   ||python groups||raimue||
    2627||Randall Wood    ||MP Port, shell scripting||rhwood ||
    … …  
    4344==== Task 2: Python Group ====
    4445
    45 Improve Python [http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/browser/trunk/base/src/port1.0/resources/group group] code.[[BR]]
     46Improve Python [source:trunk/base/src/port1.0/resources/group group] code.[[BR]]
    4647We currently have a lot of Python modules, which are built for Python 2.4. We now need a system to re-use port information about one python port to create Ports for Python 2.4 AND Python 2.5 (and also for the upcoming 2.6 and 3.0 release).
    4748This though has to be made modular, so we can just re-use the description, etc. (if different versions of one module are required for different Python versions) or just re-use the whole information (checksums, etc.).
    … …  
    6162Classification: challenging task[[BR]]
    6263Programming languages: Tcl and C[[BR]]
    63 Potential mentor: rhwood
     64Potential mentor: rhwood, jmpp
    6465
    6566==== Task 4: Binaries ====
    … …  
    6970Classification: relatively challenging to challenging task[[BR]]
    7071Programming language: Tcl[[BR]]
    71 Potential mentors: wms
     72Potential mentors: wms, jmpp
    7273
    7374==== Task 5: Graphical user interface ====
    … …  
    8081==== Task 6: Images (Pkgview, depot-to-depot dependencies) ====
    8182
    82 MacPorts implements what we call the Image mode where software are stored in a depot (e.g. /opt/local/var/db/dports/software/gawk/3.1.5_2/opt/local/bin/gawk). For the moment, this functions like an archive and files are hardlinked to their active location (/opt/local/bin/gawk). If port A depends on dynamic library B.dylib from port B, it actually links to /opt/local/lib/B.dylib. The idea of this task is to figure out a way for port A to be linked to the library in the depot and to work even if port B is not active. That is to say that if port foo depends on version 1.2.3 of port bar, it should be compiled and linked in such a way that it's wired to the depot location of bar, not the "activated" location.  That will finally fix the fragility problem where deactivating port bar vers n-1 in order to install port bar vers n (because other things depend on n) won't also require breaking everything that relies on n-1. This mechanism also has additional advantages such as limiting the unavailability time to a minimum, especially when upgrading libraries every other package depends on (such as gettext).
     83MacPorts implements what we call the Image mode where software are stored in a depot (e.g. `/opt/local/var/db/dports/software/gawk/3.1.5_2/opt/local/bin/gawk`). For the moment, this functions like an archive and files are hardlinked to their active location (/opt/local/bin/gawk). If port A depends on dynamic library B.dylib from port B, it actually links to /opt/local/lib/B.dylib. The idea of this task is to figure out a way for port A to be linked to the library in the depot and to work even if port B is not active. That is to say that if port foo depends on version 1.2.3 of port bar, it should be compiled and linked in such a way that it's wired to the depot location of bar, not the "activated" location.  That will finally fix the fragility problem where deactivating port bar vers n-1 in order to install port bar vers n (because other things depend on n) won't also require breaking everything that relies on n-1. This mechanism also has additional advantages such as limiting the unavailability time to a minimum, especially when upgrading libraries every other package depends on (such as gettext).
    8384
    8485Classification: challenging to very challenging task[[BR]]
    … …  
    111112==== Task 10: Shell Environment ====
    112113
    113 Add support for for providing basic and port-provided environmental services to users in the .profile, .cshrc, and .xinitrc files, so that instead of manipulating the user's .profile to modify certain paths, the installer could append "source /opt/local/etc/bash.rc" to the end of a user's .profile file and that bash.rc would source all the files in /opt/local/etc/bash.d.
     114Add support for for providing basic and port-provided environmental services to users in the `~/.profile`, `~/.cshrc`, and `~/.xinitrc` files, so that instead of manipulating the user's .profile to modify certain paths, the installer could append "`source /opt/local/etc/bash.rc`" to the end of a user's .profile file and that bash.rc would source all the files in `/opt/local/etc/bash.d`.
    114115
    115116Classification: medium task [[BR]]
    116 Potential mentors: rhwood
     117Potential mentors: rhwood, jmpp
    117118
    118119==== Task 11: Automatic testing ====
    119120
    120 Macports project currently includes a [http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/browser/trunk/base/tests test framework] to test features of the infrastructure. However, the tests do not cover all the code and they are not executed on an automatic basis. This task consists of extending the test framework and could be broadened to develop a code coverage technology for MacPorts to make the infrastructure more robust to future changes.
     121MacPorts project currently includes a [source:trunk/base/tests test framework] to test features of the infrastructure. However, the tests do not cover all the code and they are not executed on an automatic basis. This task consists of extending the test framework and could be broadened to develop a code coverage technology for MacPorts to make the infrastructure more robust to future changes.
    121122
    122123Classification: relatively easy to very challenging[[BR]]
    … …  
    124125Potential mentor: wms
    125126
    126 ==== Task 12: MacPorts Web Application ====
     127==== Task 12: Logging ====
     128
     129Currently MacPorts has no notion of logging of build activities of a given port or sets of ports. When a a build is attempted but an error keeps it from completing, there's no way to track the problem other than the build progress that was output to the terminal, if verbose mode was requested in the first place. Otherwise, the build environment has to be pruned and the build attempted once again to even get a look at the precise error message. This is particularly problematic when automated builds are attempted, since there's usually no one around to have a look at the failure spew. An infrastructure to remedy this situation and endow MacPorts with a rich set of logging capabilities has to be developed to open up the door to true automated build runs of large sets of ports and thus to packaging of binaries, since with logging we'd have a fully reliable way of catching, reporting and processing of all sorts of fetch/configure/build/destroot/install/etc errors, possibly through the interaction with a server side application like MPWA that could consume these logs (read below). A more detailed draft of this task can be found on the LoggingProposal page.
     130
     131Classification: medium task to relatively challenging[[BR]]
     132Prohramming languages: xml or yaml or html, C, Tcl, PHP or RoR[[BR]]
     133Potential mentor: jmpp, wms
     134
     135==== Task 13: MacPorts Web Application ====
    127136
    128137A very good start has been made on a Web Application for MacPorts to serve as a basis for easier user submission and maintenance of ports, not to mention monitoring of port build status, browsing of ports, etc. This work is known as MPWA and is written in Ruby on Rails. This task is to complete the work on MPWA so that it is usable for day to day usage by the MacPorts community. Work is needed on user credentials and authentication, port dependency  integration, port submission and tracking, etc. This is a very exciting project and can help MacPorts scale to support a larger community.
    129138
    130 Read more about the [http://svn.macports.org/repository/macports/users/jberry/mpwa/doc/ MPWA design and model].
     139Read more about the [source:users/jberry/mpwa/doc/ MPWA design and model].
    131140
    132141Classification: moderate, with good follow through vision, and architecture required[[BR]]
    … …  
    144153
    145154==== Task A2: Documentation and Website ====
    146  * Improve macports documentation
    147  * Improve macports website
     155 * Improve MacPorts documentation
     156 * Improve MacPorts website
    148157 * Custom Trac plugins
    149158