[TYPO3-dev] The future of Bug Days

[Jigal van Hemert]

Hi,

On 22-7-2011 14:32, François Suter wrote:
> We have been having Bug Days monthly for most of the last 3 years. Some
> have been wildly successful, others far less so. Recently the tendency
> has been toward reduced participation and I feel like it's going down
> the drain and that the concept needs a change.

One of the main advantages of Bug Days was that developers were 
available online at the same time. This meant that newcomers had a 
platform to get help, both with dealing with the bureaucracy and with 
the TYPO3 core. For more experienced contributors it meant that there 
were enough people around to help testing.

For me personally the reason for not attending lately were simply 
practical: I had to work during the day and had visitors or training in 
the evening. Last year I could attend a number of times simply because 
there was a national holiday or I had a day off (because I had to 
doggy-sit at home).

> My personal impression is that the Bug Days have become routine. Most
> people are aware of them happening and think that they'll participate
> next time, when they have more availability. It's easy to dismiss such a
> regular event. There also have been complaints about the Bug Days
> happening on Fridays when most people are working. Some manage to free
> themselves, others not.

The latter was the problem in my case. I have a limited amount of 
vacation days and I can't spend them all on TYPO3 stuff.

Another problem has been addressed in a different part of this thread. 
Although not many people complain about it loudly I fear that git/gerrit 
is still a major obstacle to participate in TYPO3 development. Instead 
of complaining the usual reaction of people is to walk away.

(I'd love to discuss git/gerrit in a separate thread if there is a fair 
change to get some real answers and solutions (other than "read a book"))

Ideas:

- use the core list to start discussion (and hopefully a solution and 
reviews) for certain issues. A "Bug of the Day" (or "Bug List of the 
Week"). If needed there can be a meeting using IRC/BBB if the issue 
requires this.

- maybe we should investigate if git/gerrit is an issue and find 
workarounds here; it should be technically possible to have an svn in 
sync with git and to have svn-compatible diffs available. Testing and 
reviewing could then be possible for git-less people too.

- make it easier to find forge (folks still submit core issues to 
mantis) and make forge easier to work with (maybe this requires 
developing custom plugins

- active marketing to companies to 'donate' resources in many forms 
(developer/tester time when available between projects; hosting some 
bugfix event;...)

- investigate use of other (social) media to draw attention to bugfix or 
developers (in any shape) events

- make it more attractive to contribute to TYPO3. Maybe there could be 
an "airmiles" like system. Each type of contribution gives certain 
"points". This could lead to rewards in many forms (I don't know which 
is more attractive to people): goodies, discounts for events, status on 
the TYPO3 site, ... (This may sound childish, but it works in real life 
marketing)

-- 
Kind regards / met vriendelijke groet,

Jigal van Hemert.