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