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| <title>What Needs Doing?</title> |
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| |
| <body> |
| <div class="app"> |
| |
| <h1 style="text-align: center;">What Needs Doing?</h1> |
| |
| <p>There are a lot of different things you can do to help Subversion. |
| Not all involve coding; there are plenty of non-programming roles for |
| eager volunteers.</p> |
| |
| <p>Below are some of the needs we've identified, but please don't take |
| these as gospel! New volunteers bring fresh viewpoints, and one of |
| the most important things you can do is point out a need we hadn't |
| recognized before — and then fill it.</p> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h2" id="summer-of-code" title="summer-of-code"> |
| <h2>Google Summer of Code Tasks</h2> |
| |
| <p>These are the ideas that the Subversion developers have for <a |
| href="http://code.google.com/soc/">Google Summer of Code</a> |
| applicants. These are just some ideas — if you have |
| other ideas, we're happy to consider them too, please just post them |
| to <a |
| href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>.</p> |
| |
| <p>However, please don't select tasks in the other sections of this |
| page as your Summer of Code proposal, as those are either not the |
| right size for the Summer of Code, or are not coding tasks and |
| therefore not eligible.</p> |
| |
| <p>You should also read the <a href="hacking.html">Hacker's Guide to |
| Subversion</a> before starting out on a proposal. Don't hesitate to |
| ask for details or start discussing one of these tasks on the <a |
| href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| mailing list (see <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList" |
| >here</a> for subscription information).</p> |
| |
| <p>In fact, please discuss your task on the mailing list regardless of |
| whether you've submitted your application yet. Eagerness to engage |
| with the rest of the Subversion development community will be |
| considered favourable in evaluating your application.</p> |
| |
| <p>If you have questions about the application process, compensation, |
| or the Google Summer of Code program in general, please see the |
| program <a |
| href="http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2008/faqs.html">FAQ</a> |
| </p> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="sparse-dirs-deselect" title="sparse-dirs-deselect"> |
| <h3>Deselection interface for sparse directories.</h3> |
| |
| <p>See <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2843" |
| >issue #2843</a>.</p> |
| |
| <p>Although we now support <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/notes/sparse-directories.txt" |
| >sparse checkouts</a>, we do not yet have any way to remove subtrees |
| from a working copy once they have been brought in. This task |
| involves coming up with an interface specification first (via list |
| discussion), and then implementing it.</p> |
| |
| </div> <!-- spars-dirs-deselect --> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="externals-commit" title="externals-commit"> |
| <h3>Make commit descend into svn:externals directories.</h3> |
| |
| <p>See <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1167" |
| >issue #1167</a>.</p> |
| |
| <p>See also <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2325" >issue |
| 2325</a> (svn cleanup should follow svn:external references).</p> |
| |
| </div> <!-- externals-commit --> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="dav-interop" title="dav-interop"> |
| <h3>Better DAV interoperability.</h3> |
| |
| <p>Over DAV (http://), Subversion should map the svn:executable and |
| svn:mime-type to the DAV-standard props, for better interoperability |
| with existing DAV clients.</p> |
| |
| <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1345" |
| >issue #1345</a>.</p> |
| |
| </div> <!-- dav-interop --> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="progress-output" title="progress-output"> |
| <h3>Show progress output.</h3> |
| |
| <p>Improve the progress output displayed during update and commit.</p> |
| |
| <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1264" |
| >Issue #1264</a> and <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=901" |
| >issue #901</a>.</p> |
| |
| </div> <!-- progress-output --> |
| |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="customizable-diff" title="customizable-diff"> |
| <h3>More customizable behavior for diff.</h3> |
| |
| <p>Fully customizable external diff invocations, and support for |
| external diff commands for non-text types.</p> |
| |
| <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2044" |
| >Issue #2044</a> and <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2447" |
| >issue #2447</a>.</p> |
| |
| </div> <!-- customizable-diff --> |
| |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="authz-improvements" title="authz-improvements"> |
| <h3>Authz improvements</h3> |
| |
| <p>Note: Summer of Code may require two or more depending on |
| complexity.</p> |
| |
| <ul> |
| <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2445" |
| >2445</a>: Allow users to change passwords.</p></li> |
| |
| <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2958" |
| >2958</a>/<a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2662" |
| >2662</a>: Authz path wildcards; these are probably duplicate |
| issues, and the latter one has a patch already, though it may be |
| out-of-date now.</p></li> |
| |
| <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2338" |
| >2338</a> mod_authz_svn should be able to use httpd's groups |
| config.</p></li> |
| |
| <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2143" |
| >2143</a> Additional authz action controls (e.g., add/remove |
| files).</p></li> |
| |
| </ul> |
| |
| </div> <!-- authz-improvements --> |
| |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="interactive-merge-source-selection" |
| title="interactive-merge-source-selection"> |
| <h3>Interactive merge source selection</h3> |
| |
| <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=3065" |
| >issue #3065</a>.</p> |
| |
| </div> <!-- interactive-merge-source-selection --> |
| |
| |
| <!-- These are some other ones I considered for SoC 2008, but decided |
| (for now) to leave off the list. Feel free to publish them if |
| you think they're appropriate. |
| |
| 1233 mime-type guessing improved for Unix systems |
| 2286 shared storage for identical files |
| 2194 Support Unicode encodings other than UTF8 as plain text |
| 783 Construct a notification system for properties [iffy...] |
| --> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="svn-commit" title="svn-commit"> |
| <h3>Allow Commit from multiple working copies</h3> |
| |
| <p>Currently, 'svn commit' cannot commit changes that are located in |
| two or more disconnected working copies (lacking a common parent), |
| even if those working copies belong to the same repository. This is |
| a fairly common need for users that work on multiple projects that |
| are all stored in the same repository and need to commit the changes |
| for multiple projects in a single atomic commit transaction.</p> |
| |
| <p>There are several issues in the issue tracker that describe the |
| problem in more detail (see <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2381">issue |
| #2381</a>).</p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="svnserve-logging" title="svnserve-logging"> |
| <h3>Operation and error logging for svnserve (<a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2409" |
| >issue #2409</a>):</h3> |
| |
| <p>Subversion 1.3.0 added support for operational logging in |
| mod_dav_svn. That is, logging what actual client-side operations are |
| performed on a repository, rather than just logging the endless flow |
| of WebDAV requests. Support for this kind of logging, as well as |
| error logging, needs to be added to the standalone svnserve daemon. |
| This requires some work in the APR library, which would provide the |
| actual logging facility.</p> |
| |
| <p>This has been extensively discussed on the Subversion development |
| mailing list in the past. A good first step would be to review the |
| previous proposals.</p> |
| |
| <p><em>This task may have been started at <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnserve-logging" |
| >http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnserve-logging</a>.</em></p> |
| </div> |
| |
| <!-- ************************************************************* --> |
| <div class="h3" id="svn-augmented-diff" title="svn-augmented-diff"> |
| <h3>An augmented diff representation</h3> |
| |
| <p>Currently, 'svn diff' outputs a patch in the so-called "Unified |
| diff" format. The problem is, this format is fairly old, and as such |
| can represent only textual differences between files. It does not |
| represent structural changes to the directory tree, nor can it |
| encompass changes to various metadata, the kind used extremely |
| frequently by Subversion.</p> |
| |
| <p>'svn diff' actually has two or three use cases. The first is to |
| produce a human-reviewable description of a change suitable for code |
| review. The second (and maybe third) are to produce a file that can |
| be sent by email or stored somewhere for later application, by patch(1) |
| (the second use case) or some other more-capable patch tool (the third |
| use case). Of these, 'svn diff' currently only supports the first case. |
| For example, copied files are currently shown as differences against the |
| original version of the file, which makes review easier, though isn't |
| suitable for applying with patch.</p> |
| |
| <p>This task is: First, to propose a solution for serialising a complete |
| representation of a change. Then, implement that solution with a new |
| switch to 'svn diff' and a new subcommand ('svn patch'?) that would |
| apply a previously created serialised patch.</p> |
| |
| <p>Things to consider in your design of the serialisation format:</p> |
| <ul> |
| <li>Whether it represents content diffs in a human-readable format |
| (probably using the unified diff format), Subversion's native binary |
| delta format, or some other format. Considerations include non-precise |
| (fuzzy) patching and representing changes to binary files.</li> |
| <li>Whether it should be compatible (to some degree) with patch(1) |
| (by encoding extra information in a "garbage" chunk of data that patch |
| will ignore, similar to the way property changes are reported today).</li> |
| <li>How renames (when eventually implemented as a primitive operation) |
| should be represented.</li> |
| </ul> |
| |
| <p>Note that <a href="http://svk.elixus.org">SVK</a> posesses such a |
| rich unified diff format. It may or may not be desirable to reuse the |
| same kind of representation; that decision is part of the task!</p> |
| |
| <p><em>This task may have been started at <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnpatch-diff" |
| >http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnpatch-diff</a>.</em></p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| <!-- ============================================================= --> |
| <div class="h2" id="information-management" title="information-management"> |
| <h2>Information Management Tasks</h2> |
| |
| <p>These are non-coding tasks, so they are <b>NOT</b> eligible for |
| <a href="http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html">Google Summer of Code</a>. |
| If you have come here from the Summer of Code pages, skip this section of the |
| page.</p> |
| |
| <div class="h3" id="issue-management" title="issue-management"> |
| <h3>Issue Management</h3> |
| |
| <p>Do we need an Issue Manager? Maybe...</p> |
| |
| <p>The Subversion <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/project_issues.html">bug |
| database</a> has been managed in a rather ad hoc fashion thus far. |
| Periodically we make sweeps over all outstanding issues and try to |
| prioritize them, organize them into scheduled milestones, note |
| dependencies between issues, etc. These methods have been moderately |
| successful up till now, but they are not scaling well as the number of |
| issues grows. Since issue growth is proportional to user base growth, |
| the issue tracker is becoming a victim of Subversion's success. We |
| need to find new ways of managing our issues, ways that do not involve |
| making O(N) sweeps over the entire list of open issues at regular |
| intervals.</p> |
| |
| <p>While we have some semi-formalized management roles (patch manager, |
| release manager, etc), we have never had an issue manager. It might |
| be time to get one, though. It's not yet clear whether the problem is |
| mainly one of attention, or of algorithm, or both, but having someone |
| dedicated to managing the issues database couldn't hurt. One thing |
| such a person could do would be to go through the list of outstanding |
| issues, figure out which ones are likely to be <a |
| href="#bite-sized">bite-sized tasks</a>, and mark them as such, so |
| that other volunteers have an easier time choosing things to work on. |
| We've already marked various issues as bite-sized, but we haven't done |
| so consistently as new issues come in. This means there are a lot of |
| potential entry points to the project going unnoticed. Want to help |
| us solve that?</p> |
| |
| <p>Creative ideas welcome! If you'd like to help with this, please <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList" |
| >subscribe</a> to the <a |
| href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| mailing list and post your thoughts.</p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| <div class="h3" id="faq-management" title="faq-management"> |
| <h3>FAQ Management</h3> |
| |
| <p>We need a FAQ manager. A FAQ manager is someone who stays |
| subscribed to the <a |
| href="mailto:users@subversion.tigris.org">users@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| and <a href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org" |
| >dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> mailing lists, watches for common |
| questions or addenda to existing questions, and slowly adjusts the |
| Subversion <a href="faq.html">FAQ</a> in response to the problems |
| users are having "in the wild". This is also a great way to get |
| familiar with Subversion usage patterns and common problems. If you |
| use or administrate Subversion anyway, helping to manage the FAQ is a |
| great way to expand your troubleshooting skills.</p> |
| |
| <p>Again, creative ideas are most welcome. Please post to the <a |
| href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| mailing list if you're interested in this.</p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| <!-- ============================================================= --> |
| <div class="h2" id="bite-sized" title="bite-sized"> |
| <h2>Bite-Sized Coding Tasks</h2> |
| |
| <p>The Subversion bug database contains many issues classified as |
| "bite-sized" tasks — tasks that are well-defined and |
| self-contained, and thus suitable for a volunteer looking to get |
| involved with the project. You <i>don't</i> need broad or detailed |
| knowledge of Subversion's design to take on one of these, just a |
| pretty good idea of how things generally work, and familiarity with |
| the coding guidelines in the |
| <a href="hacking.html">Hacker's Guide to Subversion</a>. Many tasks |
| are things a volunteer could pick off in a spare week or two, and |
| they're a great way to start learning your way around the Subversion |
| code.</p> |
| |
| <p> If you start one of these tasks, please notify the other |
| developers by marking the issue as "STARTED" in the issue tracker, |
| then mail <a |
| href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| (<a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList" |
| >subscribe</a> to that list too) with questions. Don't be shy, it's a |
| very civil mailing list.</p> |
| |
| <p>When you're ready to send in a patch, see the <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/mailing-list-guidelines.html#patches" |
| >patch posting guidelines</a>. Don't be discouraged if your patch |
| goes through several iterations of review by other developers; this is |
| normal.</p> |
| |
| <p>Here is the <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/buglist.cgi?component=subversion&issue_status=UNCONFIRMED&issue_status=NEW&issue_status=STARTED&issue_status=REOPENED&keywords=bite-sized&cmdtype=doit" |
| >list of all bite-sized tasks</a>.</p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| <!-- ============================================================= --> |
| <div class="h2" id="larger-tasks" title="larger-tasks"> |
| <h2>Larger (But Not Necessarily Huge) Coding Tasks</h2> |
| |
| <p>The tasks listed below are bigger than bite-sized, but probably |
| don't require new research to solve. In other words, most of them are |
| a <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/SMOP.html">Simple |
| Matter Of Programming</a>. You'd need to either be, or be willing to |
| become, familiar with Subversion's internals to solve one of |
| these.</p> |
| |
| <p>As with the <a href="#bite-sized">bite-sized tasks</a>, please read |
| the |
| <a href="hacking.html">Hacker's Guide to Subversion</a> and don't |
| hesitate to ask questions on the |
| <a href="mailto:users@subversion.tigris.org">users@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| and |
| <a href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> |
| mailing lists (see <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList" |
| >here</a> for subscription information). Before posting any patches, |
| see the <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/mailing-list-guidelines.html#patches" |
| >patch posting guidelines</a>.</p> |
| |
| <p>For <a href="project_status.html#upcoming">groups of tasks tied to |
| specific releases</a>, peruse the <a href="project_status.html">status |
| page</a>. For a longer-term view of Subversion's vision, see the <a |
| href="roadmap.html">road map</a>.</p> |
| |
| <div class="h3" id="error-messages" title="error-messages"> |
| <h3><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1254" |
| >issue #1254</a>, etc: Improve error messages</h3> |
| |
| <p>Too many of Subversion's error messages are terse or confusing. |
| Many instances are recorded in |
| <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1254" |
| >issue #1254</a>, but see also issues |
| <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2302" |
| >#2302</a>, |
| <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2295" |
| >#2295</a>, and |
| <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2275" |
| >#2275</a>.</p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| <!-- ============================================================= --> |
| <div class="h2" id="bindings" title="bindings"> |
| <h2>Improved Bindings to Other Languages</h2> |
| |
| <p>One of Subversion's strengths is that it offers a rich set of |
| "binding surfaces": well-documented APIs that are available not only |
| in C (Subversion's native language) but in other programming languages |
| as well (see the <a |
| href="links.html#lang_bindings">complete list</a>).</p> |
| |
| <p>Some of these language bindings are maintained via <a |
| href="http://www.swig.org/">SWIG</a>, a tool that partially automates |
| the process of generating bindings, while others are maintained by |
| hand. Many of the bindings do not have complete coverage yet, or have |
| interface problems where they do have coverage. So even though |
| they're used in many production systems, there's still plenty of work |
| to do. Specifically:</p> |
| |
| <ul> |
| |
| <li><p>The <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/swig/python/" |
| >SWIG/Python bindings</a> are in pretty good shape, but their coverage |
| is not yet complete. Help is welcome.</p></li> |
| |
| <li><p>Our <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/java/javahl/" |
| >Java</a>, <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/swig/perl/" |
| >SWIG/Perl</a>, and <a |
| href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/swig/ruby/" |
| >SWIG/Ruby</a> bindings are in pretty good shape, but maybe there are |
| other languages you'd like to call Subversion APIs from? Lisp/Scheme? |
| Feel free to start a new bindings project, if you don't see what you |
| need here.</p></li> |
| |
| </ul> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| <!-- ============================================================= --> |
| <div class="h2" id="all-issues" title="all-issues"> |
| <h2>All Open Issues</h2> |
| |
| <p>You want to see the complete list of open bugs, in all its glory? |
| Don't say we didn't <a |
| href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/buglist.cgi?component=subversion&issue_status=UNCONFIRMED&issue_status=NEW&issue_status=STARTED&issue_status=REOPENED&order=issues.target_milestone%2C%20issues.priority%2C%20issues.issue_type">warn you...</a></p> |
| |
| </div> |
| |
| </div> |
| </body> |
| </html> |