[bt-devel] Working on BibleTime

[Martin Gruner]

Hi Eeli, hi Jeremy,

> > 	I just posted what I know on the BibleTime wiki what I know about my
> > COS370 requirements.  I would like to begin work ASAP, so are there
> > specific tasks I could be working on right now?  We'll also need to work
> > on getting at least a tentative schedule for the rest of the semester. 

Great!

> I think for KDE4 port there are three major "lines". One is squashing
> bugs and polishing the UI and behaviour to resemble the stable version.
> The second one is adding new features - we have some plans in wiki. The
> third one is rewriting the existing features so that the code is
> cleaner.

Only the first item really belongs to the port. Let us make that our priority 
for now. We need to get something releaseable. After the port is completed I 
want to have a "beta" release that can be installed and works cleanly. That 
could be quite soon as we made good progress on the port already. We don't 
need a final release until KDE 4.0 is out, but we should have regular beta 
releases for people to try and provide feedback. It will help us to be more 
disciplined and to not forget aspects of the development progress that we 
don't like so much.
Let us concentrate on finishing the port and making the first beta release 
now. When we have that, we can start with features and major refactoring. Of 
course, some refactoring may be needed or useful even during the port.

> The first one is admittedly the most important but it is not much fun.
> If you want to do that just run the compiled binary and see where it
> needs repair.

Eeli, since you spend the most time on BT now, I'd like to ask you to plan the 
remaining todos. We should use the wiki for that, listing todos and 
responsible people. I'll contribute to the wiki and the work where I can. The 
installation process still needs some work, as well as the 18n package which 
doesn't even exist yet. We should also clean up the wiki a bit. Some stuff is 
already obsolete.
Eeli, is that ok for you, to lead the planning here?

> For the second one you can read the wiki and then we can discuss and
> decide which features are the most important. Or you can invent you own
> - this is a volunteer project after all. All reasonable suggestions are
> welcome.

Features are good, but we should choose wisely, it should be discussed and 
integrate with the UI and philosophy of BT. Our focus should be more on 
refactoring than on features, after the port.

> The third one needs much planning, I think. It is not easy to change
> existing code without making it more rotten.

Indeed. It also depends on programming skills and experience (that's why the 
code IS rotten in places). ;)

@Jeremy: let us know what kind of schedule and/or other materials you need for 
your course.

Looking forward to working with y'all.

Martin