launchpad development
Ubuntu linking to upstream
Launchpad must make it easier for Ubuntu contributors to link source-packages to registered upstream projects.
Contents
Launchpad has had packaging links for years, but the message regarding its value is not compelling.
- Launchpad could provide information about what each package needs to send upstream to make the need specific and clear.
- Since crowd sourcing is the preferred solution to collect this information, karma can be awarded and top contributors can be displayed.
- Launchpad could do some of the monotonous work for the contributors:
- It could search for matching projects for the contributor and ask him or her to select from a list.
- It could show exactly what information is missing
- It could make project registration easier by pre-populating the form with the source package information.
Distro series +index page (updated)
The distroseries index page needs a portlet that encourages users to link source packages to registered upstream projects.
This proposed design is very similar to the portlet Curtis and Martin discussed in August 2009 when redesigning the project and distro series pages. The project series index page lists where to get the code as the second most important portlet so that user can start working on bugs and features. The same activity is hard to do in a distro series because most of the work must be forwarded upstream, or upstream needs their latest code sent upstream to Ubuntu. A different kind of portlet is needed by the distro series.
- The portlet summarises the work that must be done.
- The portlet must list a subset of the packages that need linking. The list is prioritised so that the users see the most urgent packages first.
- The portlet could show recently linked packages
- Showing recent activity encourages contributors to be a part of the group.
- Showing who and when it was done give contributors exposure
- The portlet has links to both the linked packages and unlinked packages views.
The recently linked listing breaks portlet conventions by showing the who and when on the same line as the what. This information is collected but has never been shown in the Launchpad UI.
Comments
- Curtis: The query to create the prioritised list of packages that need linking is hard.
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Distro series +packaging page (updated)
The current distro series +packaging page lists unlinked translatable packages, and all linked packages. This information can be separated into separate pages because neither listing is showing enough information to explain what needs to be done.
The packaging page could list the linked packages and show what information must be collected so that the Ubuntu community can work with the upstream project.
- The list shows what the needed information in columns
- The information is either available, missing, or not needed
Since the community may desperately need to know the upstream bug tracker for a linked package, the listing could be sorted by most need. The packages with the most bugs and translations are listed first. This may make the listing difficult to use for users who was want to scan the list. This may not be an important issue because the +all packages listing was removed because it was not considered to be very valuable to the community. Any user can search the distro for packages to get a listing of packages that match a name/topic.
This listing is different from the unlinked packages listing, and that may be bad.
The presentation assumes that the non-existent packages are remove from the database and upstream projects cannot make links for packages in PPAs any more.
Comments
- Curtis: The work to fix the project information is a separate saga called upstream-link-to-ubuntu; the opposite of this saga.
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Distro series +unlinked-packaging page (new)
The unlinked packaging page could list the unlinked packages and show what information that illustrates why they need to be linked.
- The page shows a list of the packages order by urgency. The packages that most need linking are listed first.
- The table columns list the number of bugs and translatable messages that are not being shared with upstream.
- The branch column will always be shown as missing.
- Each row links to the source package where the contributor can start making the packaging link.
Comments
- Curtis: The query to create the prioritised list of packages that need linking is hard.
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Source package +index page, unlinked (updated)
The call to link the source package to an upstream project was added in December 2009. The page could more.
- The portlet lists the registered projects that are most likely the upstream.
- The project and package are often the same name or similar, so instead of asking the user to do the obvious search, the portlet presents the results of the search as a form
- The project name is not enough information. The form could show the project summary, but that requires not using the launchpad-form-macros.
- There is a link to see each project because the user probably needs to see more than text.
- There is a link to use the standard set/edit form where the user can do the search himself.
The link is made to the default project series, the focus of development. There are a few cases where projects produce multiple source packages from different series (Python 2.6 an 3.1 for example). Showing series in this list complicates the form and will make most packages unnecessarily complicated to link, and the user can always choose to use the standard linking form.
The form can be an AJAX operation that updates the portlet. The upstream information is not used by any other part of the page.
Comments
- Curtis: Edwin and Francis both suggested that Launchpad should suggest to the user the probable upstream projects.
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Source package +edit-packaging page (updated)
The source package linking page is used to select the upstream product series. This page only hints at the changes that must happen in the view code.
- The view will accept a project name; the current focus of development series is selected by default.
- Knowledgeable users may specify the series
The series chooser and form instructions must clarify that launchpad uses <product>/<series> to search for a specific series
- The series chooser could show projects with multiple series clearly.
- The search should be limited to development and stable series
- The default series should be clearly presented for each project.
While drive-though-project-registration is a separate saga, the illustration shows that this form must allow users to register the upstream project if it is not in Launchpad yet. The feature will copy the package information to the new project to expedite project creation.
Comments
- Curtis: I think the suggestion to change the schema to allow linking to a project is faulty because 99.99% of project has only one series and the view should assume the default series unless the user specifically specifies a different series.
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Source package +index page, linked (updated)
The current source package page shows the linked upstream project and series, but does not indicate the quality of the information that the community has about the project. The upstream associates portlet could show this summary to encourage the community to locate the information.
- The portlet lists the information that is collected, needed, or not relevant.
- There portlet shows a sentence asking the user to help locate the information.
Comments
Curtis: The work to fix the missing information is a separate saga: upstream-link-to-ubuntu.
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