[Proposal] I volunteer to help with 0.20.6

[Anton Tagunov <at...@ngs.ru>]

Hi, gang!

I'm Anton Tagunov, a committer with Avalon and Excalibur
apache projects. I'm afraid I have not been much active
withing these projects lately, but I've still got the commit
priviliges and an active apache account.

I have a full understanding of current situation @fop:
0_20_2 branch has been frozen and all efforts have been
directed at reacheing 1.0 release. On the other hand there
has not been a release for quite a while. The only thing
available to users is 0.20.5. And I do know that a massive
refactoring has happened on the path to 1.0. And I do know
that 0.20.5 code is a bit messy which in the beginning
caused the refactoring.

However, being practicle we (I work for Deutsche Bank now)
definetely need fop NOW. We do use 0.20.5. And we do have
local patches for it. I feel these patches may be of a
certain value to others too. Also I would also like to
leverage public review available with open source. Besides
we do have at least several patches against 0.20.5 flying
around cvs.

To make a long story short this is what I propose:

* I go over bugzilla and collect reasonable patches
* I collect my own patches
* as I don't have carma for xml-fop I create one cummulative
patch available as www.apache.org/~atagunov/fop/patch.diff
* I create a 0.20.6-RC1 and make available at
www.apache.org/~atagunov
* this release candidate is accompanied with one question:
please make sure that there has been no degradation against
0.20.5
* announcement(s) are made via regular apache news channels
- news@apache.org, they go to planetapache, etc.
* after one or more release candidates some of the peoples
with appropriate carma commits changes to cvs (yes, I know
there may be issues with re-adding the files back around
xml-fop/src/org but that should be solvable one general
concensus is reached) and 0.20.6 is released

The mantra of 0.20.6 would be: no new features, not much
labor, go for low-hanging fruit and fix what is easy to fix
and for what patches are already available.

That should be relatively easy. Piece of cake.

On the upside FOP project which has not had releases for
quite a while while gains some more visibility and showes it
is alive. 0.20.6 announcements will be accompanied with a
big fat comment that it is just a bug-fix and the real
paradize is expected with 1.0.

I do understand the nature of software development. I do
understnad you're at 1.0-dev. I honestly hope some day I
will find enought time and enery to dig into that. But being
practical this is what I can offer fop community right now:
assistance in 0.20.6 release. Low-hanging fruit. Light bug
fixing.

Perhaps Victor and/or some other patch authors would assist.

Thoughts?

Anton Tagunov
www.apache.org/~atagunov
Deutsche Bank/Pushkin Project, Moscow, Russia
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Re: [Proposal] I volunteer to help with 0.20.6

[Chris Bowditch <bo...@hotmail.com>]

Anton Tagunov wrote:

> Hi, gang!
> 
> I'm Anton Tagunov, a committer with Avalon and Excalibur
> apache projects. I'm afraid I have not been much active
> withing these projects lately, but I've still got the commit
> priviliges and an active apache account.

Welcome.

> 
> I have a full understanding of current situation @fop:
> 0_20_2 branch has been frozen and all efforts have been
> directed at reacheing 1.0 release. On the other hand there
> has not been a release for quite a while. The only thing
> available to users is 0.20.5. And I do know that a massive
> refactoring has happened on the path to 1.0. And I do know
> that 0.20.5 code is a bit messy which in the beginning
> caused the refactoring.

Well, thats not the full picture. Refactoring was started because it is too 
difficult to implement keep-* properties into the maintenance code because of 
it architecture. Hence a new architecture was thought up and hey presto: work 
begins on 1.0.

> 
> However, being practicle we (I work for Deutsche Bank now)
> definetely need fop NOW. We do use 0.20.5. And we do have
> local patches for it. I feel these patches may be of a
> certain value to others too. Also I would also like to
> leverage public review available with open source. Besides
> we do have at least several patches against 0.20.5 flying
> around cvs.

What a small world. My company is working with Deutsche bank (London) on a 
project involving FOP. At the moment they are our only customer who still work 
  with FOP. Most of our customers must have XEP to get keep-* properties. This 
is the one area that FOP really falls down on. If FOP had keep-* properties it 
would be used much more. That is why we must focus our energies on the redesign.

<snip/>

> The mantra of 0.20.6 would be: no new features, not much
> labor, go for low-hanging fruit and fix what is easy to fix
> and for what patches are already available.
> 
> That should be relatively easy. Piece of cake.

In a way I agree with you, and it looks like you will be taking on most of the 
work for yourself, and thus minimising the distraction from HEAD development. 
But I would much rather you concentrated on HEAD. Doing more development of a 
frozen architecture is only going to encourage more users for a dead code base.

> 
> On the upside FOP project which has not had releases for
> quite a while while gains some more visibility and showes it
> is alive. 0.20.6 announcements will be accompanied with a
> big fat comment that it is just a bug-fix and the real
> paradize is expected with 1.0.

1.0 isnt a real paradise, more like a 0.3. Just 0.20 plus keep-* properties. 
Well, thats the goal. In reality theres going to be some regression on 0.20.x 
functionality.

> 
> I do understand the nature of software development. I do
> understnad you're at 1.0-dev. I honestly hope some day I
> will find enought time and enery to dig into that. But being
> practical this is what I can offer fop community right now:
> assistance in 0.20.6 release. Low-hanging fruit. Light bug
> fixing.

I have to say I think I'm against doing a 0.20.6. I dont like being negative 
toward someone who wants to improve the code, but I think its for the best if 
1.0 stands a chance. And I know whats it like not having much time, most of 
the other committers are in the same boat. Yet we have all made at least some 
contributions towards the 1.0 effort. I would like to see you doing the same.

<snip/>

Chris

RE: [Proposal] I volunteer to help with 0.20.6

[Victor Mote <vi...@outfitr.com>]

Anton Tagunov wrote:

> Perhaps Victor and/or some other patch authors would assist.

I wish I could help you, but I am blocked from development on that branch as
well.

Victor Mote