Why the next Hobbit release hasn't happened yet
Note1: There's nothing Hobbit-technical in this mail, so feel free to just hit "delete" if that is why you're reading the list.
Note2: A few people are receiving this directly; don't worry, I haven't auto-subscribed you to the Hobbit mailing list. It's just easier to write this only once.
I've received a couple of concerned e-mails over the past few days, asking me if there was "something wrong" since I haven't done any work on the Hobbit snapshots.
The answer to that question is "sort of", but nothing truly serious.
I guess I am just experiencing a mild degree of burnout(1) regarding Hobbit programming. Several factors at my for-pay work (I work for CSC in Copenhagen) have probably contributed to this; there's been some downsizing and organizational upheavals, and I've had to step in and support one of my colleagues who was very close to collapsing with severe stress. Some people just cannot say "no"; I can, and so I had to do some "no-saying" on her befalf while helping her get the projects finished.
On top of that, I've had some vision problems the past 4 months. Vision on my left is rather bad because of a severe case of floaters(2), which will probably require some eye surgery later this year. This is quite annoying when working with a computer monitor, since the text appears blurred.
Another complication has been a legal issue. I've had some e-mail exchanges with the people representing J.R.R.Tolkien / Lord of the Rings; however, this has been resolved in an acceptable manner. More on that in my next mail.
Also, I have chosen to focus some of my time on taking care of myself - in the beginning of this year I decided that I was getting a bit fat and started going to a gym. I've never done fitnes or sports of any kind (being the true geek that I really am :-)), and losing 30 lbs does take some time and effort away from other activities. Contrary to what some people claim, I do NOT feel more energetic after a two-hour workout; I feel sleepy. However, that project is proceeding as planned and by the end of the year I should be in much better shape than I was at the beginning of 2008.
So what do I do now?
I feel that I've gotten some energy back and can start looking at coding some again. I need to wrap up the current code so it is in a reasonable state for all of you to start testing. I'm on my summer holidays for most of August, and the weather forecast for next week looks like there will be plenty of time to stay indoors. So I promise to produce an alpha release within two weeks. Then we can start playing with it and see how buggy it is.
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge. I am currently testing a dump/import of the RCS modules into Subversion, and if that looks to be OK I'll upload it to Sourceforge tomorrow. So by Monday, this should be available to anyone who wants to hack Hobbit. Documentation on how you use SVN (Subversion) on Sourceforge is available at SF(3).
One thing that has made me very happy is that the support available on the mailing list apparently works quite well even when I am not around. It is a great relief for me to see how helpful this community is; you really are an important part of this project.
Regards, Henrik
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has
Please enable me (account name = tjyang) to be able to check in. I like to contribute some documenation stuff also.
not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge. I am currently testing a dump/import of the RCS modules into Subversion, and if that looks to be OK I'll upload it to Sourceforge tomorrow. So by Monday, this should be available to anyone who wants to hack Hobbit. Documentation on how you use SVN (Subversion) on Sourceforge is available at SF(3).
I printed out all the hobbit manpages and bind them together as a book. but no TOC,indexing,poor print quality etc make me decide to learn latex convert all the manpages into latex.
The quality of this book is in alpha stage better than the raw print out of manpages.
You can see the book here
http://c-71-194-123-60.hsd1.il.comcast.net/pdf/
I will clean up the code the book source in once I have write permission.
I have no interest to copyright it(not contribution really,just some labor work). let me know or modify the copyright terms.
Overtime, I will put in more time on the programming side so I won't waste my past C.S. training. Chap 17, is my effort to formalize the hb message protocol using BNF. the second time I use it since I took programming language class years ago.
Cheers
tj
Henrik Stoerner wrote:
One thing that has made me very happy is that the support available on the mailing list apparently works quite well even when I am not around. It is a great relief for me to see how helpful this community is; you really are an important part of this project.
Glad to hear from you, have missed you on the list. I agree there's been a lot of good support, but a few issues I don't think any of us have been able to solve. I guess I speak with bias here, having a few myself (the HTTP test time reporting issue, the RECOVERED alert problems). I hope life becomes a little more settled, would like some of your insights on the tough stuff. -Alan
On Thursday 31 July 2008 18:02:39 Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge. I am currently testing a dump/import of the RCS modules into Subversion, and if that looks to be OK I'll upload it to Sourceforge tomorrow. So by Monday, this should be available to anyone who wants to hack Hobbit. Documentation on how you use SVN (Subversion) on Sourceforge is available at SF(3).
Yay!
I will definitely be checking hobbitmon out of svn, and may get around to some svn diff|mail ...
Regards, Buchan
mmmh I liked hobbit but the argument with the PHB is a strong one. Perhaps "savemon" - save money by save monitoring would convince them (domains are available).
-- Mit freundlichen Gruessen Rolf Schrittenlocher
Bitte beachten Sie die neue Emailadresse!
HeBIS-IT, Senckenberganlage 31, 60054 Frankfurt Tel: (49) 69 - 798 28908 Fax: (49) 69 798 28817 LBS: lbs-f at mlist.uni-frankfurt.de Persoenlich: schritte at hebis.uni-frankfurt.de
----- Original Message ----- From: "Henrik Stoerner" <henrik at hswn.dk> To: <hobbit at hswn.dk> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 6:02 PM Subject: [hobbit] Why the next Hobbit release hasn't happened yet
I guess I am just experiencing a mild degree of burnout(1) regarding Hobbit programming. Several factors at my for-pay work (I work for CSC in Copenhagen) have probably contributed to this; there's been some downsizing and organizational upheavals, and I've had to step in and support one of my colleagues who was very close to collapsing with severe stress. Some people just cannot say "no"; I can, and so I had to do some "no-saying" on her befalf while helping her get the projects finished.
Take it easy.
I have been there and know what it means. I stopped working and and have been on unemployment for almost 3 years. The company moved and I was offred the same job. But I said no. I got help to quit the job.
But 1st of September i will retire.
Again take it easy all. Don't be on duty 24x7.
Lars
Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge.
Just wondering, will you be reviewing patches before they are committed or are you going to have a fairly liberal check in policy?
Tom
In <489AEE96.1030504 at mcclatchyinteractive.com> Tom Georgoulias <tomg at mcclatchyinteractive.com> writes:
Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge.
Just wondering, will you be reviewing patches before they are committed or are you going to have a fairly liberal check in policy?
To begin with, I'd like to keep an eye on what gets committed to the code base. However, I don't want to become a bottleneck. My hope is that there will be a few persons who contribute regularly, and whom I can trust to do things the "right" way (whatever that is), so I don't have to check on everything they do.
Regards, Henrik
From: "Henrik Stoerner" <henrik at hswn.dk> Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 3:41 PM Newsgroups: lists.hobbit To: <hobbit at hswn.dk> Subject: Re: [hobbit] Why the next Hobbit release hasn't happened yet
In <489AEE96.1030504 at mcclatchyinteractive.com> Tom Georgoulias <tomg at mcclatchyinteractive.com> writes:
Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge.
Just wondering, will you be reviewing patches before they are committed or are you going to have a fairly liberal check in policy?
To begin with, I'd like to keep an eye on what gets committed to the code base. However, I don't want to become a bottleneck. My hope is that there will be a few persons who contribute regularly, and whom I can trust to do things the "right" way (whatever that is), so I don't have to check on everything they do.
"Henrik Stoerner" <henrik at hswn.dk> wrote in message news:g7fmml$ugn$1 at voodoo.hswn.dk...
In <489AEE96.1030504 at mcclatchyinteractive.com> Tom Georgoulias <tomg at mcclatchyinteractive.com> writes:
Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge.
Just wondering, will you be reviewing patches before they are committed or are you going to have a fairly liberal check in policy?
To begin with, I'd like to keep an eye on what gets committed to the code base. However, I don't want to become a bottleneck. My hope is that there will be a few persons who contribute regularly, and whom I can trust to do things the "right" way (whatever that is), so I don't have to check on everything they do.
I will provide the framework/infrastructure for hobbit development to ensure we have a good process.
ie, code(by many persons), compile,packaging, testing and finally released packages (not just binary).
I will document this in hobbit developer slide.
http://hobbitmon.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/hobbitmon/branches/tjyang/trunk/...
currentl the pdf is very very raw.
tj
Regards, Henrik
To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
Regards, Henrik
To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
On Thursday 31 July 2008 18:02:39 Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge. I am currently testing a dump/import of the RCS modules into Subversion, and if that looks to be OK I'll upload it to Sourceforge tomorrow. So by Monday, this should be available to anyone who wants to hack Hobbit. Documentation on how you use SVN (Subversion) on Sourceforge is available at SF(3).
One thing that has made me very happy is that the support available on the mailing list apparently works quite well even when I am not around. It is a great relief for me to see how helpful this community is; you really are an important part of this project.
In order to aid contribution while not compromising support, would it be worthwhile to have a development mailing list?
(I have some questions to ask etc., but I would prefer not to ask them on the normal list).
Regards, Buchan
In <200808080927.24666.bgmilne at staff.telkomsa.net> Buchan Milne <bgmilne at staff.telkomsa.net> writes:
On Thursday 31 July 2008 18:02:39 Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge.
In order to aid contribution while not compromising support, would it be worthwhile to have a development mailing list?
I'll get that setup.
Henrik
From: "Buchan Milne" <bgmilne at staff.telkomsa.net> Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 2:27 AM To: <hobbit at hswn.dk> Cc: "Henrik Stoerner" <henrik at hswn.dk> Subject: Re: [hobbit] Why the next Hobbit release hasn't happened yet
On Thursday 31 July 2008 18:02:39 Henrik Stoerner wrote:
It would obviously be good to have more people involved in the programming. One roadblock for this has been that the source code has not been available in a public repository. That is about to change; I am working on setting up a Subversion repository for the Hobbit code on SourceForge. I am currently testing a dump/import of the RCS modules into Subversion, and if that looks to be OK I'll upload it to Sourceforge tomorrow. So by Monday, this should be available to anyone who wants to hack Hobbit. Documentation on how you use SVN (Subversion) on Sourceforge is available at SF(3).
One thing that has made me very happy is that the support available on the mailing list apparently works quite well even when I am not around. It is a great relief for me to see how helpful this community is; you really are an important part of this project.
In order to aid contribution while not compromising support, would it be worthwhile to have a development mailing list?
(I have some questions to ask etc., but I would prefer not to ask them on the normal list).
Asking Henrik to create another developer on the mailman server he hosted or post your developer question here http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=435279
But we better agree on same place we developers can interact.
tj
Regards, Buchan
To unsubscribe from the hobbit list, send an e-mail to hobbit-unsubscribe at hswn.dk
participants (7)
-
asparks＠doublesparks.net
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bgmilne＠staff.telkomsa.net
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henrik＠hswn.dk
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lars.ebeling＠leopg9.no-ip.org
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schritte＠hebis.uni-frankfurt.de
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tj_yang＠hotmail.com
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tomg＠mcclatchyinteractive.com