Integrated Project Environment?

[prog...@gmail.com]

It's been fun trying to figure out how to position a service like
DevjaVu. It started with the obvious "issue tracking and version
control" but that really doesn't get the point across. You could just
as easily call it "project management software" but that doesn't
really convey what DevjaVu is without making you think of Basecamp or
other non-software development oriented solutions.

Sometimes I call it "development tools" but that doesn't really convey
the essence as much as it does a collection of thrown together
utilities, maybe code editors (what do you think of when you say dev
tools?). Sometimes I say "project infrastructure" because we're trying
to take care of a lot of everything else involved in a software
project that's not writing code, as opposed to an editor or IDE which
is all about your act of writing code.

Then I thought about IDE some more because it's a real general idea
used to talk about the short-cycle dev tools you use in coding, but
what it stands for *could* be used for anything that was 1)
integrated, 2) development related, and 3) environmental -- as in,
it's something you can call yourself "in" like a cockpit... more than
just a tool you use, it defines your entire working environment.

But we can't call DevjaVu an IDE. The meaning of IDE in the minds of
developers is something completely different. But I like the ideas it
brings to mind because in a lot of ways, what Trac and DevjaVu try to
be is like the IDE for everything else that's not writing code. It's
more about the rest of the project. Hence maybe: Integrated Project
Environment?

So I'd like to know, more so than whether you like "IPE", what would
you call the stuff that Trac and (I suppose more importantly) DevjaVu
is about?

--
Jeff Lindsay
DevjaVu Founder and Hacker

[Nicholas Orr]

What would I refer to DevjaVu/Trac as?

I refer to it as Code Management. Yeah there are some project
management things in Trac but ultimately its a place to look after
code.
I use BaseCamp but I really need something like Trac to actually
integrate SVN & Documentation & Issues/Bugs.
Todo lists in BC aren't the greatest. I'm sure I could work out a
strategy, but everyone would have to follow the strategy...

Nick :)

On Dec 27 2007, 12:36 pm, "progr...@gmail.com" <progr...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Jeff Lindsay]

Hey Nick,

Thanks for your perspective. I definitely think Code Management is a
big part of it, but when you start talking about project specs and
issue tickets, it feels beyond just code... maybe "software?" I've
been playing with the idea of "to make software, as opposed to just
code, you need more than an editor and a compiler".. where software is
defined as more of a product, open source or not, it's a sort of full
package, not just some code that does something. And I feel like what
Trac and DevjaVu can/will provide are the tools to help you get from
code to software.

-jeff

--
Jeff Lindsay
http://devjavu.com -- Free Trac and Subversion
http://blogrium.com -- A blog about things

[Nicholas Orr]

Actually "Software Management" does convey a broader scope then "Code Management". Especially when you take into account the "Wiki" functionality of Trac for documentation purposes.

Nick

[Jeff Lindsay]

Yeah, actually I like that. The only problem is that it seems to be
used to refer to things like software licensing and deployment
management. More IT than development. Apparently Google noticed the
ambiguity:

Searches related to: "software management"
software license management software project management

That pretty much explains it... obviously we'd fall into the project
management side, but again, we're not just management tools are we?

-jeff

[bigfish]

Trac is certainly more than a project management tool. But when I
talk about Trac, I always refer to it in relation to a single
project. I have often wondered, is there a way to integrate a user's
experience over multiple instances of Trac? Multiple projects, if you
will. For my development, I have found that each major project
requires its own iteration of Trac. And once you have three or four
Trac projects running, bouncing between numerous instances of Trac can
get tiresome and convoluted.

Has DevjaVu thought about this? Do you have plans for integrating
multiple Trac projects into one user experience? Is it even possible?

Thanks.

On Jan 15, 7:46 pm, "Jeff Lindsay" <progr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yeah, actually I like that. The only problem is that it seems to be
> used to refer to things like software licensing and deployment
> management. More IT than development. Apparently Google noticed the
> ambiguity:
>
> Searches related to: "software management"
> software license management             software project management    
>
> That pretty much explains it... obviously we'd fall into the project
> management side, but again, we're not just management tools are we?
>
> -jeff
>

> On Jan 9, 2008 3:55 PM, Nicholas Orr <nicholas....@zxgen.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Actually "Software Management" does convey a broader scope then "Code
> > Management". Especially when you take into account the "Wiki" functionality
> > of Trac for documentation purposes.
>
> > Nick
>

> > On 1/9/08, Jeff Lindsay <progr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Hey Nick,
>
> > > Thanks for your perspective. I definitely think Code Management is a
> > > big part of it, but when you start talking about project specs and
> > > issue tickets, it feels beyond just code... maybe "software?" I've
> > > been playing with the idea of "to make software, as opposed to just
> > > code, you need more than an editor and a compiler".. where software is
> > > defined as more of a product, open source or not, it's a sort of full
> > > package, not just some code that does something. And I feel like what
> > > Trac and DevjaVu can/will provide are the tools to help you get from
> > > code to software.
>
> > > -jeff
>

> > >http://blogrium.com-- A blog about things
>
> --
> Jeff Lindsayhttp://devjavu.com -- Free Trac and Subversionhttp://blogrium.com-- A blog about things

[Jeff Lindsay]

It is possible, in fact, we've already started moving in that
direction since all user accounts are global as opposed to per
project. Meaning when you register with DevjaVu, you can use that
account with any project you have permissions with. It's just not
fully taken advantage of. For example, why not have quick nav at the
top to jump between projects? That's the model we want to have, in
fact, probably very similar to Google Groups. But there a few
architectural changes that need to happen before we can do that
properly, especially with the number of users we have now.

-jeff

--
Jeff Lindsay
Make software better
http://devjavu.com

[bigfish]

That's great to hear! Is there an estimate on when that will be put
in place?

Thanks.

> >  > > >http://blogrium.com--A blog about things
>
> >  > --
> >  > Jeff Lindsayhttp://devjavu.com-- Free Trac and Subversionhttp://blogrium.com--A blog about things

[Jeff Lindsay]

The best estimate right now is "in the next couple months".

[bigfish]

Sounds good. One more question on the overall structure, though.
Would it be possible to build a consolidated My Tickets page/report?
Thus, having one page that displays all of the tickets assigned to me,
no matter the project.

Thanks.

> >  > >  > > >http://devjavu.com-- Free Trac and Subversion
> >  > >  > > >http://blogrium.com--Ablog about things
>
> >  > >  > --
> >  > >  > Jeff Lindsayhttp://devjavu.com--Free Trac and Subversionhttp://blogrium.com--Ablog about things

[Jeff Lindsay]

-grin-

No, but that'll definitely come with the integrated architecture.

-jeff