Community Platform Engineering/FY15 Plan

This is a summary of important goals for the Fedora Engineering team for Red Hat Fiscal Year 2015 (March 2014 - February 2015).

Please note this is not a comprehensive list. Many team members have numerous additional goals for contribution to the project. In addition, all team members work with the community ad-hoc throughout the year to troubleshoot problems, mentor new contributors, and create additional opportunities for community participation.

While Red Hat employees on the team are accountable for the progress of these goals, each one is fully open to the community to participate. Contribution is essential to achieving these goals, and we want and need the community's help! In Fedora, there is no such thing as "someone else's problem." We are all part of the solution.

Infrastructure and General

To help with these goals, contact the Infrastructure team -- #fedora-admin^[?].

• Migrate hosts to RHEL 7. While there may be a few boxes that must be maintained on RHEL 6, we want to make use of all the innovation in RHEL 7 that comes from Fedora. Our goal is to migrate as much of the infrastructure in FY15 as possible. STATUS: Mostly done (2/3 of hosts converted). Should have considerable progress FY16Q1, done FY16Q2.
• Migrate from Puppet to Ansible. We believe Ansible is the best new technology for systems deployment and management. So we intend to move all Puppet recipes in the infrastructure to Ansible playbooks. If you're interested in helping, start by exploring the Ansible docs and then get in touch with us. STATUS: Not done, 78 hosts left in puppet. Will complete by mid-FY2016.
• Improve Fedora Cloud setup. We will research and make refinements to the Fedora cloud setup, to use more modern technology, and to allow automated deployment and regular maintenance. STATUS: In progress, moving to Icehouse release for long term support. Expect deployment ~FY16Q1.

Application development

To help with these goals, contact the Infrastructure Applications team -- #fedora-apps^[?].

• Port TurboGears v1 apps. We are moving toward more flexible technology using the Flask framework and SQLalchemy. STATUS: This task stretches beyond FY15 and into FY16 due to complexity or dependency of some of our apps, such as MirrorManager and FAS.
• Expanded OpenID support. OpenID is a flexible technology for authentication also supported on the most popular applications worldwide. We will support OpenID on more Fedora web apps, to make login easier for all project members.
• Fedora notifications. Fedmsg Notifications will allow contributors to centrally manage their notifications for Fedora applications and operations in whatever form they like to receive -- email, IRC, desktop, mobile. STATUS: Done.
• HyperKitty. HyperKitty is a web front end to the new Mailman version 3 which allows users to browse topics in a more familiar, forum-like interface. We will complete development of this application and deploy for use with Fedora mailing lists. STATUS: Delayed by Mailman v3 release timeline, was Apr 2014 now Apr 2015. We expect to deploy test HK before April, production shortly thereafter.
• Refreshes for Bodhi, FAS, and MirrorManager. We will achieve at least a pre-release of the next version of each of these important applications before the close of FY15. STATUS: In progress. Now expected FY16Q1.

Design and content

To help with these goals, contact the Design team -- #fedora-design^[?].

• Fedora.next website overhaul. The Fedora website is a thing of beauty. But we want it to be ready to present a new slate of products including Workstation, Server, and Cloud, as well as other community projects. We will design and implement a new site at http://fedoraproject.org based on the latest technologies with easier navigation, on-ramps for potential contributors, and tools for current contributors. STATUS: Done.
• Bootstrap everywhere. We will develop a Fedora theme for the Bootstrap framework and leverage it throughout our websites for a cohesive look and feel. STATUS: Research in progress.
• Fedora Magazine. We will contribute to the Fedora Magazine with numerous articles per week on user-centric features to help expand the popularity and use of Fedora globally. STATUS: Done, ~100K/month hits, will continue with more metric goal in FY16.
• More badges. We will substantially increase the number of Fedora Badges available for new and existing project members, and provide incentives that produce measurable surges in contribution. STATUS: 57 new badges in FY15.

Kernel

To help with these goals, contact the Kernel team -- #fedora-kernel^[?].

• Kernel playground COPR. We will provide a "next-gen" kernel with bits that are not yet upstream. Kernel engineers and enthusiasts will be able to use these kernels with their existing Fedora systems for development and testing of new features (e.g. file systems). STATUS: Done.
• Kernel testing framework and app. We will produce an open kernel test harness that allows for automated testing of new kernels with a battery of tests. Community members will easily be able to adapt and add to these tests. We will provide documentation and additional awareness for the system following production rollout. STATUS: Almost done, awaiting packaging so we can deploy early FY16.
• Packaging changes. We will adjust the kernel packaging to make the kernel more adapable and consumable. This will not only assist with the creation of the Fedora Cloud product, but also with developer functions like bisecting to fix bugs. STATUS: Substantial progress, may carry over to FY16.