Summer 2008 Goals
This is a list of what I have planned for the summer.
Officially, I am done with this school year by the first of May, and go back to school on the 25th of August. In that time, I have the following things planned for activities. I invite people to comment and elaborate on them, where appropriate.
During June, July, and August, I will hopefully be working as an intern for Red Hat. I plan on working out of the Netherlands during most of the summer. I will work remotely from a small town, Wageningen, in the eastern part of the country, since it offers a few advantages. It is close by to the Amserfoort office, the rent is reasonably priced, and I have many contacts there. It is also near Utrecht and Arnhem, where many of the international trains go through, so I can travel to other places in Europe if needed. I plan on being involved with the technical community there.
This list is very tentative.
Pre Internship
These goals are project ideas I've spoken about before, and need to be finished. This will take place in May.
Haskell Guidelines
- They are mostly finished in my head, but the implementation needs a bit of work
- Should take about a week to finish
Wevisor / Revisor
This is something I've had an idea for floating around the past few months.
- Start implementing something partly usable
- Fill me in
- Should take up about 2 weeks
- I plan to have a demo ready for LinuxTag
Smolt
We've been making the server i10n-able
- Finish exporting all the strings
- Get it into transifex, and beg for translations
- Should take one full day
Server 2 Server communications
- Normalize the protocol with a few other parties
- Configure the actual setup needed
- Secure it
- Should take about one week
Code
These are projects involving actual code writing that I will do over the summer. These items are reportable to Mike, Toshio, and Luke. If there are any Smolt projects in the GSoC, it will include that.
One thing I have in mind, is that I want to spend my first two weeks working on code as much as possible. I'm assuming I will be working remotely with the team in Boston, among other things. If I start working with them, even if I scale down the work I do for other projects, it will be somewhat easier to stay on the same page. Thus, please fill in the tasks that you (Mike, Toshio, and Luke) have in mind for me to do.
Build System
Ensuring Buildsys changes are on track and being made:
- Directory Hashes
- Build Weights
- Hide RHEL binaries from public
FAS2
FAS2 changes
- Search via name / email
- user group displays via filter
- ensure user disabling and auto expiration works
- move fedora specific bits to a plugin
Smolt
- Update stats
- Custom query tool (GSoC)
- SuSE integration
- Gentoo Integration
- Polish and shine for Fedora 10 - Make it a highly visible feature in concurrency with other distributions.
Infrastructure
These are projects involving Infrastructure and Plumbing. They are reportable to Mike.
The same I said applies to what's up above. I'm not sure what's on the plate here, I've been out of touch with Fedora Infrastructure lately due to other demands.
Build System
- HTTP serve for file content
- SQL Query audits (see dgilmore for specific version diff)
- Update buildsystem documentation
Marketing
These are projects involving Open Source Activism and work with the Fedora Ambassadors and Fedora EMEA. It is my primary reason for working in Europe, and includes going to conferences. It is reportable to Max.
- Introduce the concept of CLA Fests
- Talk about being a contributor
- Discuss emerging technologies
LinuxTag
- This is a big one, the first thing I'll be doing
Fedora 9 Release Install Party - Arlon, Belgium
- This will be the first chance to test out CLA Fests
- Tentative - Must get in touch with several people
- Going to prepare french posters
Fedora 9 Release Install Party - Paris, France
- Same as Arlon for now
Other Ideas
I also have another idea for a fun project, aside from the regular marketing business. Fedora is shaping up to be a great testbed for the experimental. I think there definitely is a need to get more people to think of Fedora for what it is, Freedom etc..., and not just some project by Red Hat. Fortunately, there is a pretty extensive network and community of students and student aged people in the Netherlands using Open Source software and writing Open Source code on daily basis. I would like to set up a BarCamp this summer between members of the Fedora Community and the general Open Source Community in the Netherlands. The theme would be "the Experimental and the Next Generation in Open Source". It would give us a good chance to see what else is out there, and give them a good chance to see how we can help, and what we can offer.
What it will accomplish
- Introduce Fedora as a platform for Open Source software
- Let us explain our stance on upstream to the next generation of working talent
- Perhaps include an install fest for the totally uninitiated
- Promote open source development overall
- Help us, as Fedora developers from abroad, get to know the community personally
- Create communication between other members of the open source community on the spirit of doing things for fun.
- Encourage the development of alot of fun new technology
- Discuss the future of Linux and Open Source Development
I've found that the Dutch in particular prefer very minimalist solutions to the tasks they have at hand. They often joke that Emacs was written by an American, but Vim was written by a Dutchman. Fedora is anything but. I would say the first step is to show them that Fedora is not just a distro, but entails a lot more. I also look forward to the crazy things that will come out of such a conference.
Details
* Central location, probably Utrecht or Wageningen * Estimated attendance approx 200-300 people at most * Will need to search for funding from multiple sources * Need to contact LUGs in the region to collaborate with them * Will need to assemble some basic dutch language oriented marketing tools * Probably sometime in august, make sure it's not during Max's PTO.
Other
These are other tasks that take advantage of my time in Europe as well, plus other things.
- Shadow an RHCE for 2-3 weeks
- More time would be better, but I'm not sure how long different projects would take
- It will be great to see how businesses use Open Source software in Europe
- Visit the Stuttgart and München Offices
- Visit one of the Google Europe offices as part of GSoC
- Have Fun
- Have more fun