[squeak-dev] Re: Waiting for 3.11 artifacts.

Keith Hodges keith_hodges at yahoo.co.uk
Tue Dec 9 06:54:31 UTC 2008


Andreas Raab wrote:
> These are *excellent* thoughts. Perhaps we can get a bit more clarity
> by summarizing the answers to the following questions (apologies if
> this amounts to repeating things that have been said many times before):
>
> 1. What is the current status of 3.11 - has work on it "officially"
> started? (yes/no/dunno are all fine answers here; I'm trying to
> establish the basics in terms of where in the process we are)
I have held back from saying it is "officially" started, due to pressure
to deliver on work deadlines, which have suffered due to my extreme
domestic pressures recently. Home life has returned to normal but still
my paid work is a priority.

Nevertheless the goals were stated in the paper that Matthew presented
to the board, and those goals have been worked upon and stuff is in the
process of coming online.
> 2. What are the goals for 3.11? I have seen references to
> http://installer.pbwiki.com/311 - is this "the place" for it? (again
> yes/no/perhaps are all good answers, I just want to make sure we're
> using the same frame of reference)
"THE" place of reference is the 311-Proposal accessible from that page.

Matthew might update things in the next week or two.
> 3. Where are we in the process towards these goals? Both from a
> high-level perspective as well as the nitty-gritty details of things
> that don't work but need to be addressed for a release.
Many of the parts are in place. We are waiting for Bob to bring them all
together, Bob was waiting for Rio to support ftp seamlessly.
> 4. How does one best track progress for 3.11? Is there an update
> stream? Are there Monticello releases? Mantis entries? Installer
> scripts? Alpha images? All of them?
1. packages at lists.squeakfoundation.com - receives emails of all of the
monticello package commits for the components that contribute to 3.11

2. release at lists.squeakfoundation.com - discussion on the release
(though irc is our preferred means of communication)

3. www.squeaksource.com/Tasks - has the actual build tasks, the roadmap
is embodied in this code. This is where you can contribute tasks, or
define your own personal test builds for Bob to build and test for you

4. www.squeaksource.com/Packages - loading and unloading packages, this
is where you can contribute knowledge about what works where, AND how to
unload things. e.g. "Castrait" (see previous mail) could be published
here, as could SqueakByExample. Recent addition include a Kernel-Tracer
unload, and a Null unload, a ProcessSpecific unload, AllTests (hunts
down tests for the loaded packages), and Tasks (loads tasks for this
version and the next)

5. A Mantis revival is on the way. There will be some queries for you to
see progress on bug fixing very clearly.

6. Image build script is Installer installUrl:
'http://installer.pbwiki.com/311'.  When it completes (it used to) we
will publish an image.
> 5. How does one best contribute to 3.11? (both, for more long-term
> continued development as well as the ten-minute scratch-an-itch kind
> of exercise)
a.  Small fixes and Additional Tests - ChangeSet on Mantis, AND an
Installer script on mantis.
b.  Bigger Kernel contributions add your task to ReleaseSqueak310, and
add it as a dependency, or step to one of the build steps.
c.  Kernel contributions can be made as a monticello package which is
merged into the kernel by a task.
d.  Unloading stuff - changeset on mantis, and unload script in Packages
e.  Knowledge of what loads where (basic dependencies -> Universes)
anything more Packages
f.  Tutorials/Readmes/Intrductions use the MC files feature to put the
files under monticello, and add a corresponding Packages entry for
load/unload
g. Build scripts for Bob, particularly the OneClick image
> I think that maybe one of our problems here is that we lost a little
> track of what exactly the goals for 3.11 are and where we're in the
> process relative to those and I think get some clarity on that might
> help for future steps.
hope that helps a bit

Keith



More information about the Squeak-dev mailing list