> Raymond, you getting a new title? :)
Not at all. Let me take this opportunity to speak a bit about what the
Community Source Site has planned. Note that everything I describe will be
_planned_ features - no promises yet.
The site (let's call it SCSS) will support the community in that it will
help both developers who want to improve the product and users who just want
to upgrade their Spectra server. Let's look at the developer's perspective
first.
In the past, when someone fixed a bug, they either posted it to the Forums,
or, as I did, pester Charles about it. (I think the only reason Allaire
hired me was to stop the flow of emails I was raining on poor Charles. ;)
There was no 'real' way to fix/improve the product and share it with the
world. (Outside of the Devex, but I'll get to that later.)
The SCSS will allow developers to submit bug fixes and mofications. These
submissions will go through a process that basically works like this:
1) The SCSS director (that's me) will do an initial 'junk' filter on the
submission. Basically that means if it's junk, I stop the submission.
Otherwise, I do the following:
a) If it's a bug, I verify the bug and then verify the fix.
b) If it's a mod, then it's a different test. The point of the site is to
support modifications to the product itself. This doesn't mean that every
mod is APPROPRIATE for the server. For example, if you design a set of types
and PLPs that support your Spectra-based Star Wars community site, while the
code may be cool, it doesn't apply to the core server itself. So, basically,
I do an 'appropriateness' test.
This test will be _very_ careful. What I mean to say is that I will NOT be
the final say on rejecting a mod. I will only reject a mod if I am 100% sure
it's junk. In general I will forward the mod on with my comments suggesting
that it is probably not worh our time. We are also looking into, and I
stress, looking into, allowing the community to 'ditto' a mod. Ie, you see a
mod that is being looked at by Macromedia and you can 'add your two cents'
supporting the mod.
2) After my sign off, the bug/mod moves on to the developer who covers the
particular area of the server that the bug/mod relates to. So, if you fix a
metadata bug, it goes to me again.
3) It then moves to the upper management. In general they will trust the
judgement of the first two engineers.
4) Once the 'higher ups' sign off on the code, it goes through QA, gets
checked, and whammo, it's released.
>From the User standpoint, the site will allow you to browse bugs/mods. You
can search by area, keyword, etc. Also, there will be a nice, simple,
_obvious_ way to download all the patches in one big zip.
>From a support standpoint, everything you download from the site will be
supported. I can say that as a fact. Of course, you will not be able to
download a mod/fix until it is approved.
So, where does the Devex fit into this? Remember when I talked about
'appropriateness'? Things that don't really fit into the server itself
should be submitted to the Devex.
Everyone, let me know if this answers your questions. Planned release date
is in the summer.
Raymond Camden
p.s. The lack of .sig does NOT imply a change in title. I'm working in
Boston today so I don't have my normal settings. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at
http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Unsubscribe visit
http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists&body=lists/spectra_talk or send a
message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with 'unsubscribe' in the body.
