Ubuntu Development Update
The Ubuntu 11.10 release is getting nearer and nearer. It’s time to start organising your local release party! Only five weeks left until release!
So what’s still left to do in these five weeks? Obviously a few bugs still have to be fixed, but the gates are slowly closing: next week the kernel and the documentation text will be frozen and the week afterwards Beta 2 will be released. If you haven’t tried Oneiric yet: test Oneiric and file bugs. This is an excellent way to help out and make sure that 11.10 is in tip-top shape.
So what are all the developers doing if they’re not triaging bugs and fixing them?
Still we have a bunch of packages that are NBS (Not Built from Source). Here’s the current TODO list – it’s looking better already, but still needs a bit of work. For those of you who have a weakness for graphs, here’s the number of packages that failed to build which was brought down considerably in the last weeks.
Another task we could need some help with is: bugs with debdiffs. These are bugs that have patches attached, but were (unfortunately) ignored at some stage or rejected and need some brushing up because we have a more recent version of the package in the Ubuntu archive already. In any case it’s a good idea to check them out, see if the issue is still present and propose an updated fix if possible.
There’s still a number of bugs on the radar for Beta 2, but most of them are assigned already, so we’re well on track. If you’re interested in any other aspect of Ubuntu Oneiric, I’d refer you to the oneiric-changes mailing list and the big picture specification status overview instead.
Events
Ubuntu Global Jam happened last week and I’m delighted to say that 39 events around the globe participated and lots of local Ubuntu people had loads of fun. Here’s a break-down of the countries with jams:
- Africa: Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa.
- Australia
- Europe: Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain.
- North America: Canada, Mexico, USA.
- South America: Chile, Colombia, Venezuela.
Isn’t that awesome?
Ubuntu Release Parties
There’s another opportunity for teams around the globe to get together and celebrate Ubuntu goodness! The Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10 release will get out on 13th October. Why don’t have a release party? Here’s how to organise it and here’s how to register it. There’s just 10 listed right now: add your country or city to it now!
Things that still need to get done
If you want to get involved in packaging and bug fixing, there’s still a lot of bugs that need to get fixed:
- There’s packages that fail to build.
- There’s bugs with debdiffs.
- Triage Debian RC bugs we’re still lacking in Ubuntu.
- Also is the Ubuntu Mozilla team looking for help, so if you’re excited about Mozilla and what’s happening there, join IRC, talk to the guys on #ubuntu-mozillateam on irc.freenode.net.
- And then there’s Security bugs you can take a look at, the team is a friendly bunch and they’re incredibly helpful in getting your patch reviewed.
- Also is the Server team interested in your help: merges from Debian is one possibility, fixing important bugs another.
First timers!
The world is a great place where people step up and help build great things with Open Source: here’s a few new heroes, who joined the Ubuntu world since last week: Marco Gallotta, Florian Brandes, Jon Arnold, Thorsteinn A. Malmjursson, Patrik Nilsson, Tristan Schmelcher, Xerxes Rånby, Kyle Williams, Wido, Shih-Yuan Lee, Robie Basak, David Bensimon, Alexander Burger. 13 new people in a week! Holy cow!
Highlight: Ubuntu App Developer Week
Ubuntu App Developer Week is happening this week, so if you’re into developing great new apps for users, be prepared to meet other excited app people and learn what’s new and what’s hot. Here a quick summary of what happened Monday to Wednesday already. Links go to the logs of those sessions.
Monday (David’s excellent summary):
- Making Ubuntu a Target for App Developers – Jonathan Lange
- Introducing Bazaar Explorer: Version Control for your Apps – Jonathan Riddell
- Your App & Launchpad best practices– Jason DeRose
- Getting Started With Python: a Hello World App – Alan Bell
- Making Your App Speak Languages with Launchpad Translations – David Planella
- The Making of Unity 2D – Florian Boucault
- Making App Development Easy: Gedit Developer Plugins – Curtis Hovey
- Publishing Your Apps in the Software Center: the MyApps Portal – Anthony Lenton
- Publishing Your Apps in the Software Center: The App Review Board – Stéphane Graber
- Unity Mail: Webmail Notification on Your Desktop – Dmitry Shachnev
- Launchpad Daily Builds and Rapid Feedback: Writing Recipe Builds – Jelmer Vernooij
- Using the Ubuntu One APIs for Your Apps: An Overview – Stuart Langridge
- Supercharging Your Apps with Unity Launcher Integration – Jason Smith
- Hello Vala: An Introduction to the Vala Language – Luca Bruno
- 16:00 UTC: Creating an App Developer Website: developer.ubuntu.com – John Oxton, David Planella
- 17:00 UTC: Rapid App Development with Quickly – Michael Terry
- 18:00 UTC: Developing with Freeform Design Surfaces: GooCanvas and PyGame – Rick Spencer
- 19:00 UTC: Making your app appear in the Indicators – Ted Gould
- 20:00 UTC: Will it Blend? Python Libraries for Desktop Integration – Marcelo Hashimoto
- 16:00 UTC: Getting A Grip on Your Apps: Multitouch on GTK apps using Libgrip – Jussi Pakkanen
- 17:00 UTC: Creating a Google Docs Lens – Neil Patel
- 18:00 UTC: Practical Ubuntu One Files Integration – Michael Terry
- 19:00 UTC: Publishing Your Apps in the Software Center: The Business Side – John Pugh
- 20:00 UTC: Writing an App with Go – Gustavo Niemeyer
Awesome, isn’t it? Make sure you join in on the fun.
Get Involved
- Read the Introduction to Ubuntu Development. It’s a short article which will help you understand how Ubuntu is put together, how the infrastructure is used and how we interact with other projects.
- Follow the instructions in the Getting Set Up article. A few simple commands, a registration at Launchpad and you should have all the tools you need, and you’re ready to go.
- Check out our instructions for how to fix a bug in Ubuntu, they come with small examples that make it easier to visualise what exactly you need to do.
Find something to work on
Pick a bitesize bug. These are the bugs we think should be easy to fix. Another option is to help out in one of our initiatives.
- Help out with the dh_python2 porting.
- Help out with fixing packages that don’t build anymore.
- Help out with security bugs.
- Help out with NBS (a more advanced task).
In addition to that there are loads more opportunities over at Harvest.
Getting in touch
There are many different ways to contact Ubuntu developers and get your questions answered.
- Be interactive and reach us most immediately: talk to us in #ubuntu-motu on irc.freenode.net.
- Follow mailing lists and get involved in the discussions: ubuntu-devel-announce (announce only, low traffic), ubuntu-devel (high-level discussions), ubuntu-devel-discuss (fairly general developer discussions).
- Stay up to date and follow the ubuntudev account on Facebook, Identi.ca or Twitter.
October 7th, 2011 at 22:46:00 GMT+0000
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