Tom Hoffman
2007-07-18 04:05:14 UTC
We had a very productive development sprint at the EuroPython
conference, from July 12 -14. In attendance were Ignas Mikalaj?nas,
Brian Sutherland (jinty), Jean-Francois Roche, Paul Carduner, Andrew
Rodriguez and Tom Hoffman.
There were three goals for the sprint:
1) Packaging a SchoolTool release for Ubuntu Gutsy.
2) Making some improvements to the fit and finish of the application.
3) Paying down some technical debt around terms and timetable implementation.
We achieved all of our goals. It is difficult to appreciate the
complexity of packaging an sever application like SchoolTool so that
it can be installed "apt-get install schooltool." SchoolTool is built
on the Zope 3 component architecture, and re-uses a number of
associated components. Unfortunately, while re-using components saves
us some development time, it falls upon us to create packages for each
of them for Ubuntu and Debian (and we're not even talking about other
distros and OS's right now). Our intrepid volunteer release manager,
Brian Sutherland, led this considerable effort, with help from Ignas
and just about everyone else from time to time. The initial packages
for the release are on our server, and we'll explain how to test them,
and the broader goals for the Gutsy release, in a subsequent message.
Andrew Rodriguez is a very talented CanDo intern who happened to be
spending the summer in Spain, so he was flown over by CanDo to
participate in the sprint, and handled himself impeccably all week,
despite being fifteen. He worked with me on a number of bugs and
annoying issues that I wanted to eliminate before the next release.
One thing we had some fun with was "context sensitive Zonki," which
means that our Zebra mascot/logo changes depending on what actions the
user is undertaking. Paul, Jean-Francois and Ignas also contributed
to this effort.
A more detailed list, based on the task cards we used at the sprint,
can be found below.
Release
-------
* Functional tests for new BasicPerson objects. -ignas
* SchoolTool package configuration. -jinty
* ZCML files refactoring. -jinty
* Zope 3.4 package. -jinty
* Removing immature components for release. -ignas
Finish
------
* Person's timetable view disabled by default. -pcardune
* Arrows for drop-down menus. -andrew
* Streamlined section creation. -pcardune
* Updated Zonki favicon & logo. -andrew
* Context sensitive Zonki. -andrew
* Saturday and Sunday are non-school days by default. -jfroche
* robots.txt disallows spidering by default. -andrew & ignas
* Drop down menus require click. -pcardune
* Fix misaligned fields in password edit form. -andrew
* Reorganize edit relationships form for better usability. -andrew
* Fix namechooser to handle blank or otherwise useless titles. -andrew & ignas
* Fixed navigation from the add section view. -andrew
Debt
----
* Test removal of terms/schemas. -pcardune
* Fixing url quote bug in section search. -ignas
* Fix editing and deletion of terms. -jfroche
* Generations bugs from Cando. -pcardune
* Improve schedule creation forms. -pcardune
--Tom
conference, from July 12 -14. In attendance were Ignas Mikalaj?nas,
Brian Sutherland (jinty), Jean-Francois Roche, Paul Carduner, Andrew
Rodriguez and Tom Hoffman.
There were three goals for the sprint:
1) Packaging a SchoolTool release for Ubuntu Gutsy.
2) Making some improvements to the fit and finish of the application.
3) Paying down some technical debt around terms and timetable implementation.
We achieved all of our goals. It is difficult to appreciate the
complexity of packaging an sever application like SchoolTool so that
it can be installed "apt-get install schooltool." SchoolTool is built
on the Zope 3 component architecture, and re-uses a number of
associated components. Unfortunately, while re-using components saves
us some development time, it falls upon us to create packages for each
of them for Ubuntu and Debian (and we're not even talking about other
distros and OS's right now). Our intrepid volunteer release manager,
Brian Sutherland, led this considerable effort, with help from Ignas
and just about everyone else from time to time. The initial packages
for the release are on our server, and we'll explain how to test them,
and the broader goals for the Gutsy release, in a subsequent message.
Andrew Rodriguez is a very talented CanDo intern who happened to be
spending the summer in Spain, so he was flown over by CanDo to
participate in the sprint, and handled himself impeccably all week,
despite being fifteen. He worked with me on a number of bugs and
annoying issues that I wanted to eliminate before the next release.
One thing we had some fun with was "context sensitive Zonki," which
means that our Zebra mascot/logo changes depending on what actions the
user is undertaking. Paul, Jean-Francois and Ignas also contributed
to this effort.
A more detailed list, based on the task cards we used at the sprint,
can be found below.
Release
-------
* Functional tests for new BasicPerson objects. -ignas
* SchoolTool package configuration. -jinty
* ZCML files refactoring. -jinty
* Zope 3.4 package. -jinty
* Removing immature components for release. -ignas
Finish
------
* Person's timetable view disabled by default. -pcardune
* Arrows for drop-down menus. -andrew
* Streamlined section creation. -pcardune
* Updated Zonki favicon & logo. -andrew
* Context sensitive Zonki. -andrew
* Saturday and Sunday are non-school days by default. -jfroche
* robots.txt disallows spidering by default. -andrew & ignas
* Drop down menus require click. -pcardune
* Fix misaligned fields in password edit form. -andrew
* Reorganize edit relationships form for better usability. -andrew
* Fix namechooser to handle blank or otherwise useless titles. -andrew & ignas
* Fixed navigation from the add section view. -andrew
Debt
----
* Test removal of terms/schemas. -pcardune
* Fixing url quote bug in section search. -ignas
* Fix editing and deletion of terms. -jfroche
* Generations bugs from Cando. -pcardune
* Improve schedule creation forms. -pcardune
--Tom