How can we ensure Bazaar (bzr) remains active?

Kevin m1ndstr3ngthapps at gmail.com
Tue Sep 22 02:49:58 UTC 2015



On 09/21/2015 01:19 PM, Richard Wilbur wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 20, 2015 at 7:34 PM, Kevin <m1ndstr3ngthapps at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello, Bazaar users/devs:
>>
> Greetings Kevin, welcome to the Bazaar development mailing list!
Thanks, guys, for the warm welcome. I'm happy to see that the mailing 
list is pretty active. It's quite funny, considering that this is the 
first mailing list I've ever joined. :'-)
>
>> I'm a professional software engineer and have been using Mercurial (hg) DVCS
>> for about a year. I've tried Git but I did not like it, Mercurial was much
>> more user-friendly. These two SCM projects are very active; lots of
>> contributors committing often to trunk. I just recently discovered Bazaar
>> (bzr) and I have found it to be the very best, user-friendly, intuitive
>> DVCS; more than any other.
>>
>> Sadly, the latest stable release is over 2 years old, and the latest stable
>> Windows release is over 3 years old! :-( This detracts potential users from
>> using bzr, thinking that it must be not well supported; or that it is not as
>> popular as git and hg because it is somehow "not as good".
> That is basically the time frame when bzr development transitioned
> from being shepherded by a team of software developers dedicated
> full-time to bzr, to a team of whomever was interested enough to
> volunteer what time and effort they could afford.
I'm certainly interested and committed. I don't have very much time to 
contribute much, but whatever I can I will surely give.
>
> What OS(es) do you use for development?  Help with updating the
> Windows release would certainly be appreciated (from anyone).
I use Ubuntu GNU/Linux and Windows 10. Being as the majority of the bzr 
code is Python (multi-platform), there should be hardly any differences 
between the releases for each OS, right?
>
> Since we use Test-Driven Development and have a fairly extensive test
> suite (which must pass before any branch is merged into trunk), a
> number of developers actually use the trunk on a day-to-day basis.
I may end up doing this as I begin hacking away at bzr.
>
>> I would love to contribute and help fix bugs and implement new features to
>> ensure that this excellent SCM project continues with a healthy development
>> community.
> We look forward to your contributions whether bug fixes or new
> features!  You've already completed the first steps for participation:
>   create a Launchpad account and join the mailing list.  The next thing
> you need to do in order to start pushing branches to Launchpad is to
> upload your SSH public key to your Launchpad account.
Will do! So far it's been, "You need to do this", and within I day, I've 
done it. ;-)
>
>> I've already switched my projects to use bzr and have begun to use
>> Launchpad.
> Your perspective comparing and contrasting your experience with
> bzr/Launchpad versus git/? and hg/? can also be a contribution in
> helping us improve bzr/(various hosting options) and avoid pitfalls of
> other packages.
I'll reserve comment on bzr+Launchpad until I become more familiar with 
it. Though I will say that GitHub (using git) and BitBucket (using hg) 
both are excellent and beautiful Web platforms for open source 
collaboration. I really enjoyed using them... though I'm trying to give 
them less time because I want to show usage in bzr+LP.
>
>> I joined the bazaar mailing list today, asked questions in Ask Ubuntu and
>> Ubuntu's FB page, and have submitted a request in bazaar's Launchpad page to
>> join the bzr-core team (request currently pending).
> Good job making use of the available resources.  This mailing list is
> a good place to discuss the development of bzr, ask questions, propose
> answers, etc.  Another place that you may encounter bzr developers is
> the IRC channel #bzr on irc.freenode.net
>
>> Please let me know anything else I can do to help.
> Feel free to browse the bugs and ask questions on this list.  How
> comfortable are you with Python?
I feel very comfortable with Python. I would say in order of 
proficiency: Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, C/C++. But in terms of how 
much I enjoy using the language, Python is #1!
> If you find a bug the piques your
> interest:
> 1.  Determine whether you can reproduce it.
> 2.  Contact the assignee to inquire regarding current status of
> resolution.  They may be willing to turn it over to you, possibly with
> some idea of how to resolve it.
> 3.  Create your fix by the Test-Driven Development strategy:
>      a.  Make a test that fails with the bug.
>      b.  Fix the code till the test passes.
>      c.  Commit your changes.
> 4.  Push your fixes up to a new branch on Launchpad and create a merge proposal.
> 5.  Participate in the review process on Launchpad by responding to
> reviewers questions and concerns.
>
> Once the branch is approved it should be merged into trunk fairly quickly.
Will do! If I have any questions (I'm sure I will), I'll jump back on 
here and ask.
>
>> I want the Bazaar DVCS to
>> be more active, I think it's a great software tool! :-) We cannot (and
>> should not) allow such an awesome DVCS to fall into a state of being unused,
>> ignored, and eventually abandoned. Rather, let's improve it, spread it, and
>> use it!
> Indeed.  Thank you for joining the effort.  With your help we should
> be able to make our next release sooner.
Yes! :-D Let's do it.
>
> Sincerely,
> Richard




More information about the bazaar mailing list