[Fedora-music-list] Fedora Audio Spin Accepted to GSoC 2012

[Brendan Jones]

On 05/24/2012 03:45 PM, Brendan Jones wrote:
> On 05/20/2012 01:10 AM, Christopher R. Antila wrote:
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>> On 05/17/2012 11:06 AM, Brendan Jones wrote:
>>> On 05/16/2012 12:38 PM, Jørn Lomax wrote:
>>>> On Tue, 2012-04-24 at 17:25 +0200, Brendan Jones wrote:
>>>>> On 04/24/2012 03:53 AM, Christopher R. Antila wrote:
>>>>>> etc.
>>>
>>> Hey Jørn
>>>
>>> (if you can tell me how to get that crazy umlaut/o on my keyboard
>>> it'd be much appreciated)
>>>
>>> Thanks for the intro - it seems to me that you are exactly what
>>> the project is after. I too started out with Ubuntu studio back in
>>> the day but abandoned it for various reasons (mainly work related)
>>> and since joining Fedora have never looked back. You are right -
>>> Fedora has long since been considered a developer's distro but the
>>> fact of the matter is that most audio developers are using debian
>>> as their distro of choice. This means that we have a lot of catch
>>> up to do and hopefully we can turn the tables in due course, and
>>> bring both users and developers back into the fold.
>>>
>>> Whilst there is a strong packaging aspect of your task (and you
>>> should get your first package reviewed and mentored ASAP) there is
>>> also a lot of communication that needs to be had with the various
>>> SIG's involved. First things first, I'd suggest we start holding
>>> bi-monthly IRC meetings with you as the chair, and we can start to
>>> discuss such things as the package make-up of the spin, and what we
>>> can and can't do in terms of configuration out of the box. We
>>> probably will have many questions to put to the Spins SIG. I'll
>>> leave it up to you to organize the IRC meeting when you are free
>>> from your studies. I work from home so am very flexible in terms of
>>> time etc.
>>>
>>> And most importantly, good luck with your final exam! If you need
>>> help or have any questions I'm there's a bunch of people here
>>> (myself included) who can help you out.
>>>
>>> cheers
>>>
>>> Brendan
>>
>> Let's get started now, no need to wait! Firstly, I recommend writing a
>> task-list with completion deadlines for everything imaginable. To see
>> the level of detail I have in mind, refer to my 2010 Fedora Summer
>> Coding proposal.[1] This is what saved me... without a clear plan,
>> it's easy to get lost.
> Agreed.
>
> I think the main points to concentrate on are:
> - getting the SPIN(s) approved and part of the Fedora 18 composes
> - determine what we can and can't do in terms of user configuration for
> audio - this will involve discussions with releng and the spins team and
> should be opened fairly early on I imagine
>
> We may need to create our own package which is installed by default -
> e.g. fedora-audio, which may provide a front end into things we can't
> modify from packaging alone (one thing we could do here is enable the
> pulse jack bridge under $HOME for example).
>
> Packaging should come in after (but be sure to get reviewed and
> sponsored ASAP).
>
> The focus should be on what can the audio spin do for users - there's
> really no point if all we achieve here is just a set of packages which
> supplement usual install. It would be much easier to just create an
> Audio comps group if that was the case and be done with it.
>
> Aim for an out of the box experience. Also have a look at themes and
> what we can do there to make this stand out from other Fedora spins. The
> Fedora design team may be able to help you here also.
>
>>
>> I'm in favour of IRC meetings, but they have a tendency to exclude
>> people from the decision-making process, and it's not always clear for
>> posterity why a specific decision was made. We need to make sure we
>> post everything on this mailing list in addition to using IRC.
>>
>> Do you have a blog, Jørn? If not, you should get one, then connect it
>> to the Fedora Planet aggregator.[2] I don't know how true this is for
>> free/open-source projects in general, but in Fedora, decisions,
>> development, and changes are very frequently blogged about and put
>> onto Fedora Planet.
>>
>> Finally, the most important thing I learned from Summer Coding is
>> about how FLOSS projects work. Your experience will be different from
>> mine, but for me it boils down to this:
>>
>> (1.) The Audio Spin is now your project. Be prepared to do
>> *everything* by yourself. When you ask for an opinion, if nobody says
>> anything it means you get to choose. Don't wait for consensus, make it.
>>
>> (2.) You can get any number of people to help you. They'll come from
>> the most surprising places, offer the least expected advice, and solve
>> problems much better than you can. It all depends on asking the right
>> way at the right time. Blog posts, IRC, personal email, mailing lists.
>> All countries, many languages, any demographic, and level of ability.
>> A 12-year-old may know something about JACK, and a person with very
>> low hearing may in fact know more about the audio stack than anybody.
>
> I somewhat agree too these 2 points. The whole purpose of the Audio spin
> is to strengthen the audio community around Fedora. I guess what that
> means is that it is in fairly wakened state to begin with, so if you
> wait around too much for confirmation/acceptance of your proposals you
> will run out of time.

*weakened* - its amazing the difference a single letter can make...

>
> I've a pretty clear idea of what needs to be done - just make sure you
> don't fall down the rabbit whole with packaging and the finer details
> and lose sight of the bigger picture (getting the Spin reviewed and
> approved). I'll always be around to bounce ideas off - and as Chris
> said, keep blogging, and don't limit your discussions to the Fedora
> Music List - look at LAU, opensourcemuscians and other forums to get
> ideas etc
>
> Getting excited!
>
> Brendan
>