I'd volunteer for Authentication Module Owner.<br><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 9:42 AM, Max Kanat-Alexander <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mkanat@bugzilla.org" target="_blank">mkanat@bugzilla.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Hey Bugzilla Developers.<br>
<br>
I love working on Bugzilla, and I'm totally thrilled at the unbelievable changes we've made it it. I'm pretty sure that in 2004, most people thought that this project was going to die and be crushed by all the major commercial competitors that suddenly arose. And yet, here we are, still one of the most widely-respected and used bug-tracking systems in the world, all based on volunteer efforts and open-source principles.<br>
<br>
This isn't to say that the project is totally out of danger--it's very likely that some significant changes have to happen in order to keep the project alive (myself and other reviewers discussed this a few months back), and the Pretty project needs to be completed in order for us to retain a broad userbase. But the sort of things we've accomplished (particularly the degree of improvement in code quality without a full re-write) with this codebase have possibly never before been achieved by any software organization in the world, let alone one populated across nearly every timezone by people working in their spare time. So I think we deserve a little pat on the back from ourselves.<br>
<br>
I personally had a major goal of bringing Bugzilla's code up to a high level of quality and learning enough from that process to develop a series of broad principles for software development as a whole. With the completion of my book, I believe that I have accomplished this, and now it's time for me to start focusing on bringing that message to the world, as well as time for me to start focusing on my career at Google where I may also be able to have a significant and important impact on the world of software development.<br>
<br>
In reality, LpSolit and others have actually been managing the project entirely without me for the last several months (in fact, for pretty much the entire 4.4 release cycle) so I think there's excellent evidence that the project can both survive and flourish without me. I will definitely miss the Bugzilla community and the great work that we've done together, but I think the best thing to do at this point is to transition away all of my duties to others so that I can focus on what I need to focus on, and so that the project can have somebody holding all of the positions that need to be held.<br>
<br>
If I had to supply only three pieces of advice to the Bugzilla community that should live on and be kept in force always, they would be:<br>
<br>
(1) Make sure you keep intact all of the principles of an effective open-source community. It's most important that we gain and retain developers faster than we lose them. I wrote up the results of my research into this at: <a href="http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/open-source-community-simplified/" target="_blank">http://www.codesimplicity.com/<u></u>post/open-source-community-<u></u>simplified/</a><br>
<br>
(2) The most important thing to focus on when prioritizing features is "how much does this help people track bugs?" I wrote this up as "The Feature Acceptance Test" once, and I think it helped us have one of the most successful releases we ever had. I would suggest keeping this in operation for every release: <a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.apps.bugzilla/hHoJ3IqN0ns" target="_blank">https://groups.google.com/<u></u>forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.<u></u>apps.bugzilla/hHoJ3IqN0ns</a><br>
<br>
(3) Remember that code quality is king. Without code quality, we can't deliver features in time that actually end up helping our users. Losing code quality almost killed the project once; letting that standard slip could end us up there again.<br>
<br>
With that said, it's time to give away all of my duties! As near as I can tell, here's a list of all the things I'm currently in charge of, with who they should go to:<br>
<br>
* Infrastructure (Sysadmin)<br>
<br>
This is already being handled by wicked.<br>
<br>
* CVS-to-bzr sync<br>
<br>
wicked, could you please take this over? It runs on landfill from my personal crontab.<br>
<br>
* <a href="mailto:webmaster@bugzilla.org" target="_blank">webmaster@bugzilla.org</a><br>
<br>
Also being handled by wicked.<br>
<br>
* Twitter<br>
<br>
justdave has volunteered to take this over.<br>
<br>
Note that I routinely search for the word "Bugzilla" on Twitter and reply to people who have genuine questions or problems. I don't feed the trolls who have pure complaints that aren't useful, but sometimes I do offer to help them or ask them for specifics so that I can be helpful to them. Doing this search is also a good way to get an idea of how people feel about Bugzilla. Generally, the longer it's been since we released anything, the more negative they feel. Anybody can help in this fashion, as long as they actually know enough about Bugzilla and are willing to be polite and positive to every single person they Tweet at.<br>
<br>
* The Bugzilla Update (blog)<br>
<br>
I believe I have transitioned this to LpSolit.<br>
<br>
* Extensions module owner<br>
<br>
I think timello should take on my work on this with oversight from the other reviewers, if he's willing. I don't think there should continue to be a module owner.<br>
<br>
* DB module owner<br>
<br>
I think LpSolit should take over maintaining the DB layers. I don't think there should presently be a module owner.<br>
<br>
* Release Manager<br>
<br>
dkl, as has been happening anyway.<br>
<br>
* Authentication module owner<br>
<br>
Nobody. Should be maintained by the community for now. Perhaps wicked could look into this, though, as I recall he had some patches and interest.<br>
<br>
* WebServices<br>
<br>
dkl. Note that API reviews should remain very strict. The API should retain TOTAL consistency and reviewers should always think about<br>
forward-compatibility so that we have a stable API where we (ideally)<br>
never have to break backwards-compatibility. Also, all WebService methods must be fully unit-tested before a Bugzilla release can be called stable. Every single release, we have discovered problems during unit testing that would have prevented backwards-compatibility if not fixed before the release.<br>
<br>
* Installation and Upgrading<br>
<br>
LpSolit should probably take over generally directing this work. There should probably be no module owner for now.<br>
<br>
* Chief Architect<br>
<br>
I suspect that this title should simply disappear until it's clear that somebody else is doing this specific job. Essentially this role is implicitly held by the project's leaders.<br>
<br>
* Community Lead<br>
<br>
This is essentially the job of making sure that the community stays healthy and that each member of the community is enjoying working on the Bugzilla Project. I think justdave is probably best positioned for this, or he can assign that job away to somebody else who really wants to do it and seems well-suited for it.<br>
<br>
* Maintaining the Developers Guide.<br>
<br>
In general, this probably won't change much, particularly the<br>
guidelines for new contributors that are on the Wiki. However, I suspect<br>
things will need to change over time, and I'm guessing that LpSolit<br>
would be the best person in general to maintain this. It's probably<br>
going to partially be a community effort, too, I imagine. But<br>
particularly anything having to do with coding style should generally<br>
have a single maintainer who makes the important decisions about<br>
consistency for the whole app.<br>
<br>
* UI coordination<br>
<br>
Perhaps glob or dkl would like to do this? Essentially I have always coordinated with our UX people and given them my input and guidance based on experience with lots of Bugzilla users. I helped Jonathan revise the mocks for Pretty, as an example.<br>
<br>
* The xt/ search test.<br>
<br>
I would suggest dkl or glob. Please maintain this test; it took tremendous effort and it's the *only* way to know that the Custom Search system is behaving as it was intended. We spent 10 years with a continuously buggy system because this test didn't exist. Don't let it fade away and let us go back to that parade of endless bugs.<br>
<br>
* Reviewer<br>
<br>
There exist many other reviewers, they can still do reviews. I will unfortunately not be available for reviews.<br>
<br>
* My bugs<br>
<br>
Should mostly go back to their default assignees. Some should be taken over by individuals, particularly the P1 enhancements.<br>
<br>
If there's anything else that I've missed, please let me know!<br>
<br>
Once again, I've loved working with you, it's been an incredible adventure, and I will miss you all.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
-Max<br>
-- <br>
Max Kanat-Alexander<br>
Chief Architect, Community Lead, and Release Manager<br>
Bugzilla Project<br>
<a href="http://www.bugzilla.org/" target="_blank">http://www.bugzilla.org/</a><br>
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</font></span></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>The best argument for celibacy is that the clergy will sooner or later become extinct.<br><br>
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