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Re: [hylafax-users] new community site
In reality there's just some people on a mailing list, then every so
often some voodoo happens and a new release is out. As far as I can see
there is no board and no benevolent dictator, just some people walking
in the same direction. I don't consider that to be "a community" as
such, more a convenient arrangement.
Perhaps the various people who do actually do things for Hylafax could
speak up and then it might be a little clearer what the community is and
where it it going.
Chris,
Do you follow the hylafax-devel mailing list? You might want to ... there's
a well-established, democratic process for releasing new revisions of
HylaFAX that has worked well for us over many years, and has helped ensure
that HylaFAX remains "one of the most reliable bits of open source software"
you have had the pleasure to use ;-)
That's where the developer community 'lives and breathes', and that's where
all policy matters such as hylafax.org's management etc are discussed. It
has, at times, been very lively and at other times very quiet, but it's
where all the voodoo happens. Here's something I posted to earlier this year
to help bring newcomers and old-timers alike up to speed on the release
process, and the process of concensus-driven open source development. It
might help to clarify how these people have been walking in the same
direction for so long ;-)
-Darren
From: "Darren Nickerson"
To: <hylafax-users@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <hylafax-devel@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 10:41 PM
Subject: [hylafax-devel] How does a HylaFAX release happen?
Folks,
As I'm sure most of you know, much of the success and popularity of Free
and
Open Source Software (FOSS) relies on the openness and transparency of the
development process. While the developers, as a community, do strive to be
as open and as transparent as possible, there's always room for
improvement
in how we as developers communicate with one another, and also with the
user
community. In this email, I'd like to explain how HylaFAX releases happen,
and how you can participate in the development process. I've cross-posted
it
to hylafax-users and to hylafax-devel, but I ask that anyone who wishes to
comment or ask questions do so by following-up to the
hylafax-devel@xxxxxxxxxxx mailing list exclusively. PLEASE DO NOT
CROSSPOST!!!
Q1: So who decides when it's time to cut a new release?
A1: The simple answer is that you do. As with most aspects of HylaFAX
development, the decision to trigger a release cycle is made by the
community, using a methodology generally referred to as "rough concensus".
The process may be initiated by anyone, by dropping an email to the
hylafax-devel@xxxxxxxxxxx mailing list. There will be an expectation that
if
you have taken the time to compose such an email, you will also have taken
the time to familiarize yourself with changes to CVS HEAD since the last
official release, and believe there to be sufficient value in those
changes
to justify a new release. You may be called upon to defend or advocate for
your position, so be prepared for some discussion! Discussion on the list
will eventually converge to a rough concensus, and a decision will be
taken
to either trigger a release cycle or continue development. Silence will be
interpreted as support for the proposed release, so make sure your opinion
is heard!
Q2: What does a release cycle look like?
A2. The first phase of a release cycle is a 'feature freeze', where
nothing
is committed to CVS which adds or removes any significant features.
Developers should tidy up any loose ends that might remain on work they
have
committed since the last official release and should advocate for any
bugs,
issues and/or patches that they think should be considered before moving
to
the next phase - the beta release. Once rough concensus seems to have been
reached I will issue a last call for comments, and if there are no
objections I will tag and release the first beta release. Early beta
releases will be announced on the hylafax-devel mailing list only, and
developers will be strongly encouraged to download and compile the beta on
their setups and test it thoroughly. Each beta will live for a period of
approximately two weeks. If after two weeks no significant changes have
been
necessary to any beta release, that beta will become a release candidate.
Release candidates will be announced on the hylafax-announce mailing list,
which includes hylafax-devel and hylafax-users, as well as anyone who
subscribed to the -announce list explicitly. If any significant surgery is
necessary within two weeks of this wider testing, a new release candidate
will be issued and the clock will start over. If no changes or only minor
changes are needed, the release candidate becomes a release and I will
package and announce it to hylafax-announce@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Q3: Sounds like fun - how can I get involved?
A3: Great question! Every single step outlined above benefits from the
participation of as many people as possible. If you're a hardcore
developer
looking for a challenge, visit http://www.hylafax.org/cvs.html and find
yourself a pet project, or perhaps even a pet peeve. Contribute! You'll
find
the developers in general very responsive to contributions and/or
criticism,
and everyone's welcome to contribute at this leve. See
http://www.hylafax.org/mailing-lists.html for instructions on how to join
the hylafax-devel mailing list if you'd like to participate in
discussions,
or just follow along for the sheer entertainment value ;-) The next best
way
you can help is to test the beta releases, and especially the release
candidates. You can do a service to the whole HylaFAX community by trying
to
break an upcoming release before it's finalized!
Q4: What is your role in this whole process? Whose interests do you serve?
A4: I founded hylafax.org in 1998, and got it off the ground thanks in
part
to the particularly heroic efforts of Robert Colquhoun and Phil Watkinson.
These days my company pays me and a few other engineers to spend some of
our
time administering hylafax.org and the various related services. I'm not
much more than a glorified secretary in the release process, keeping track
of when concensus has been reached, packaging up the releases and getting
them up onto ftp.hylafax.org. I serve the interests of the community now
just as I did then. For more details on the birth of hylafax.org, see:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/fa.hylafax/browse_thread/thread/51de9ecf28825270/f958e28af01220af
and for a longer discussion from various stakeholders at that time, see:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/fa.hylafax/browse_thread/thread/1153d2b98db5a482/5bb8351359e1cee8
Q5: So with all this talk of a release ... does that mean we are due for
one?
A5: You're just going to have to join hylafax-devel@xxxxxxxxxxx and see
for
yourself! ;-)
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