Group messages and overall group direction

[Antony]

Hi,

It's been pretty quiet here and in GitHub up until recently and with the changes and updates that Maarten did, I wanted to ask some questions and get some clarity for the team as we move forward on this project.

Most recently, a decision was made to purge old messages, which I think is not in the best interest of the group. A lot of the older messages provide insight into how we as a team of developers came to a consensus about a coding method, development style or whatever. I think the only messages that should be removed are those that are deemed offensive.

At some point, we will see the same questions over and over again, at which point, we can compile those questions and the relevant answers and create a FAQ.

I'm sure we will see questions as more people are added on how to pull from the Git repository, why NightDOS is written in assembly instead of C, plus any myriad of other questions. I'm not sure if anyone has used any of the web based bulletin board sites like the ones on OSDev or even Android development, but they have a Sticky post that covers the rules and provides answers to commonly asked questions.

My next point is leadership. Let me make a point here. I am not trying to be the leader or assume leadership of this group or project. Has the leadership team been established? If so, who is a part of the team? Once leadership is established, are there specific roles that you would like to see the charter members (those that joined at the onset of this project) take on? 

Do we have a definite process for submitting code, reviewing code, testing the code, either via unit tests or some other means?

Is there a clear understanding of how the GitHub repository is supposed to work? Who can submit what? What is the correct submission and vetting process?

Once again, I'm not trying to be difficult, but these are things that have crossed my mind, especially since there hasn't been any real activity code wise since August, in which a lot of C code was removed from the development branch and replaced with x86 assembly code.

Hopefully, this will encourage some discussion so that we can get this project back on track.

[Maarten]

Hi Antony,

It's good that you ask this all. I can give you some answers and for the overall decision of group leadership you need to ask Mercury.


Op zaterdag 23 januari 2016 16:25:57 UTC+1 schreef Antony:

 

Most recently, a decision was made to purge old messages, which I think is not in the best interest of the group. A lot of the older messages provide insight into how we as a team of developers came to a consensus about a coding method, development style or whatever. I think the only messages that should be removed are those that are deemed offensive.

This decision was stupid enough only mentioned by me to someone. Afterall the decision had kind of permission but well, eh... Not completely. And well, I give you right with it is not handy and I will remove the discussion about that. The already removed messages can, unfortunatly, not be recovered. I did this because my own opinion and didn't ask the rest of the group. In future, I will think more in the group perspective and it's also good to ask. So in future this will not happen.
 

At some point, we will see the same questions over and over again, at which point, we can compile those questions and the relevant answers and create a FAQ.

That would be a great idea and I would love to see that happen!
 

I'm sure we will see questions as more people are added on how to pull from the Git repository, why NightDOS is written in assembly instead of C, plus any myriad of other questions. I'm not sure if anyone has used any of the web based bulletin board sites like the ones on OSDev or even Android development, but they have a Sticky post that covers the rules and provides answers to commonly asked questions.

What do you mean with rules?

Do we have a definite process for submitting code, reviewing code, testing the code, either via unit tests or some other means?

Never heard of that, the only things that are mentioned are in the README.TXT. In the misc folder there are the, well misc files. Other then that I learned using github
because this group and you are the expert so I (but that's me) would ask you for making that process.

Is there a clear understanding of how the GitHub repository is supposed to work? Who can submit what? What is the correct submission and vetting process?

For me, yes. Also you did mention quitte much in one of the group discussions

Once again, I'm not trying to be difficult, but these are things that have crossed my mind, especially since there hasn't been any real activity code wise since August, in which a lot of C code was removed from the development branch and replaced with x86 assembly code. 

 

You aren't doing difficult, it's good that you ask this because the group needs it. :)

Thank you and I will ask more before I do, 
Maarten

[Antony]

Maarten, 

Visit http://forums.androidcentral.com/?utm_medium=navbar&utm_campaign=navigation&utm_source=ac&_ga=1.212274964.1086783022.1453654605 and look at Android Central Community, or http://forum.osdev.org/ the Operating System Development section or this one http://myitcrm.com/forum/.

Those forums, there are many more examples, will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

[Mercury Thirteen]

On Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 10:25:57 AM UTC-5, Antony wrote:

Hi,

It's been pretty quiet here and in GitHub up until recently and with the changes and updates that Maarten did, I wanted to ask some questions and get some clarity for the team as we move forward on this project.

Most recently, a decision was made to purge old messages, which I think is not in the best interest of the group. A lot of the older messages provide insight into how we as a team of developers came to a consensus about a coding method, development style or whatever. I think the only messages that should be removed are those that are deemed offensive.

At some point, we will see the same questions over and over again, at which point, we can compile those questions and the relevant answers and create a FAQ.

I agree 100% here. Maarten and I have discussed this and I think we're on the same page now.

I'm sure we will see questions as more people are added on how to pull from the Git repository, why NightDOS is written in assembly instead of C, plus any myriad of other questions. I'm not sure if anyone has used any of the web based bulletin board sites like the ones on OSDev or even Android development, but they have a Sticky post that covers the rules and provides answers to commonly asked questions.

Yes, I've seen both OSDev and AndroidForums and that is basically what I envision this group becoming once we get an official release out the door.

My next point is leadership. Let me make a point here. I am not trying to be the leader or assume leadership of this group or project. Has the leadership team been established? If so, who is a part of the team? Once leadership is established, are there specific roles that you would like to see the charter members (those that joined at the onset of this project) take on?

Basically, I'm the creator of the project and owner / maintainer of this group. I appointed Maarten as basically the moderator over this group due to my time restrictions. I've never defined any specific roles for the rest of the team, but I figure things would work best if each grabs onto a portion of the kernel which they have expertise or interest in and run with it.

Do we have a definite process for submitting code, reviewing code, testing the code, either via unit tests or some other means?

No. I'm no GitHub wizard yet, but I agree no commits should be made to master except by me. The development branch is to be used for all code contributions which haven't been tested out. Right now the development team is small enough that we all won't really be getting in each other's way. You're definitely the one here with the most formal coding experience and as such, feel free to steer our GitHub usage towards what you're used to.

 

Is there a clear understanding of how the GitHub repository is supposed to work?

 

I... think so... ? lol Like I said above, I have no problem with you suggesting a GitHub structure since you're the one most familiar with it. I can make it work at its most basic level, but I'm by far not a master at it.

Who can submit what? What is the correct submission and vetting process?

I guess how GitHub is supposed to work is that each person forks the project to their own GitHub and then submitting changes back to the project, right? That's how I'd like to see it done, if that's accurate. The team can submit their changes that way into the Development branch and then I'll verify everything works and move to Master.
 

Once again, I'm not trying to be difficult, but these are things that have crossed my mind, especially since there hasn't been any real activity code wise since August, in which a lot of C code was removed from the development branch and replaced with x86 assembly code.

No problem! This is the kind of stuff this group is here for. :)


 

Hopefully, this will encourage some discussion so that we can get this project back on track.

Despite the long lapse in development, I haven't forgotten this project. There was a shakeup in our structure at my work resulting in me  assuming the responsibilities of not only my current position but also those of two other people formerly in the company. Now that we have some new personnel, my workload is lightening a (very) little at a time. Eventually I'll get back to the place where I can devote more time to NightDOS.