Well, I would not regard Launchpad as really any more difficult than a proprietary source control system like SourceSafe or MKS (horribly complex, ask the WHO devs). It is difficult at first, but the advantages clearly outweigh the initial pain in getting everything setup and getting people used to the work flow. We really have no choice. We are spread out across the globe, and some version control system is the only way to work together. I think we should offer some sort of tutoring on issues like this, to get potential contributors up and running with the system. I was totally confused by bzr the first time I used it, having been using a rather simple system like subversion, but I think we should just offer to support those that cannot get it running.
For the documentation, even though I was the one that started all of it, I think we are going to run into issues with some people being totally overwhelmed by the technology required to do any documentation. I wrote an email to the documentation list regarding the concurrent use of Serna and XXE, and it is far from simple to try and merge documents back if two people are editing them. I guess the same could be said for source code as well. But since we are expecting that non-devs are eventually going to contribute to the documentation branch, we need a bit better strategy on how to handle these situations. I tried to do a three way merge with the Excel report document, after having made some changes, but gave up, as it was far too time consuming. Subversion might lower the barrier a bit, but I do not think it would be a good idea in the long run. I still have dreams of having the documentation integrated into the application itself, and having the source in two separate version control systems could create more problems that would be more difficult to deal with than simply tutoring those that cannot get bzr working with a few clicks. Anyway, my two cents. On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Knut Staring <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 9:32 AM, Jason Pickering > <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I think anyone can download the code, but committing code back is not >> possible without an SSH key pair AFAIK. >> >> It is pretty complicated, but if one is coding stuff, it should be >> pretty easy. :) > > Agree in principle, it just sucks that this is the initial experience. In > last week's workshop in Rwanda, I had a very smart guy comment that "this > open source stuff is always so complex" comparing it to click-click > installers... > >> >> I do think it should be much more simple for the DcoBook branch. It >> seems like total overkill, but since there was a decision to move to >> Launchpad, I think we have to live with this and provide assistance to >> anyone who wants/can commit code but cannot get everything setup. >> > > Good point about the documentation. Not sure what the solution is though, as > we do need authentication. We could of course host it on a Subversion server > (e.g. Sourceforge, Google Code) which could lower the barrier a bit? Or > would it be too confusing? > Knut > >> >> On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 8:20 AM, Knut Staring <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Hello, >> > It is very unfortunate that it is so complicated to get hold of the >> > latest >> > source code. >> > There are simply too many hoops for Windows users on this page - it >> > drives >> > people away at an early stage: >> > https://help.launchpad.net/YourAccount/CreatingAnSSHKeyPair >> > Is there no way to avoid having SSH keys for simple download of the >> > code? >> > Knut >> > >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs >> > Post to : [email protected] >> > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs >> > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp >> > >> > > > > > -- > Cheers, > Knut Staring > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
