June 2010

[opensuse-project] openSUSE Strategy Discussion: another proposal
by Marcus Moeller 21 Jul '10

21 Jul '10

Hi all. As I did not take part in the strategy meeting, I want to add my proposal, here. openSUSE - #1 KDE distribution Statement Most Linux distributions rely on a (more or less customized) GNOME desktop as default environment. openSUSE's advantage has always been the great KDE integration (and now even defaults to KDE in the desktop environment selection dialog). We should focus on that and make openSUSE the best KDE based desktop distribution available. This is not meant to start another … [View More]

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[opensuse-project] Possible strategy discussion topic: Education and Training
by Jim Henderson 21 Jul '10

21 Jul '10

I've been kicking this around for a little bit now in my own head, and I'd like to propose that the project develop a strategy around user education and training. For those who don't know, in my "day job", I work for Novell's Technical Training department as the testing program manager. In particular, I have responsibility for the business end of the practicum exam delivery (and if you want to talk about that with me, feel free to contact me off- list, I'm always happy to talk to people … [View More]about their exam experiences, even if I can't get into specific details for their exam). In my role, I also am involved in technical certification, and work closely with people who develop training (I used to be a trainer myself for eDirectory, and developed the training materials to meet objectives we had for that product) as well as being involved to some extent in developing the next generation of training delivery. I was intrigued by an article in this month's Linux Format about Ubuntu's "Lernid" training system. It sounds like that project has a plan of sorts for training users on using their system, and this seems to me to be a way in which we could grow the community from which we are looking to draw contributors. In the forums, we've also had a couple of people express that some training on openSUSE would be very helpful and useful for them (either personally or to help people they knew learn about Linux and start using it). The way I see it, we could break down training into a few classifications: 1. End-user training 2. Contributor training (for example, how to write effective bugs, code style conventions, things like that) 3. Community training (where to ask what, what to expect, that sort of thing). In items 2 & 3, a lot of that content is in the wiki already - I see the largest opportunity as being #1. There may be a loose collection of things that fit in there as well (such as the howtos for configuring certain video cards), but from a training perspective, some structure and flow between the topics (along with analysis of how the topics can/should flow from one to another) is something that's I think is missing (I may be wrong and just haven't looked in the right places). What I'd like is for the project team to consider that end-user education (in particular) is something that could help us attract more users and help them achieve a more comprehensive view of how to use openSUSE more effectively. Things like skills migration from Windows to openSUSE would be something I see as key; one forum user put it as "people learn by making connections to that which they already know"; I see that in my official job role as well - the students who are most successful are the ones who can associate what they're learning with something they already know - even if it's not a direct 1:1 mapping. Thoughts? Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org [View Less]

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[opensuse-project] Strategy d: Status Quo, and quantified so
by Jan Engelhardt 08 Jul '10

08 Jul '10

== Statement == We deliver a well-balanced platform that equally appeals to end users, power users, developers and server administrators. (Other fields we currently do?) == Activities == === Will do... === * Do as we always did * Good compromise between actuality and stability * Agreeable release cycle between 8 and 12 months * Support for the 3 most current releases * Continue the naturally growth of openSUSE:Factory by incorporating contributors' submissions * For end users *… [View More]

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[opensuse-project] openSUSE Strategy Discussion: Base for derivatives
by Pavol Rusnak 07 Jul '10

07 Jul '10

Hello again! As we promised earlier[1] starting today we'll be discussing the second of strategies: Base for derivatives[2]. [1] http://news.opensuse.org/2010/06/17/a-strategy-for- the-opensuse-project-proposals-and-discussions/ [2] http://en.opensuse.org/Documents/Strategy/Derivatives ----8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<---- openSUSE - Base for derivatives ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.) Statement: We are a diverse active and inviting community … [View More]delivering the best foundation for Linux derivatives by providing a high quality, long-term supported core distribution, with tools and infrastructure to easily build on top of it. We encourage projects and developers to create additional building blocks and specialized spin-offs and provide a platform to make them visible and appreciated. The center of this strategy is a high quality and long-term supported core distribution surrounded by tools to build derivatives which includes remote system administration. Behind that we will have a marketing team spreading the word about our Project and the derivatives made with it. Additionally, we will provide derivatives for desktops, server usage, software and web development. To be successful we see the collaboration with upstream and other Linux distributions as a key factor in providing quality derivatives. 2.) Key ideas: * reduce the number of packages in Factory - provide smaller, stable, high quality core distro - provide Long Term Support (LTS) for this reduced set - core suitable for servers - available for more platforms (including ARM, PowerPC, etc.) * provide platform for building derivatives around core distro (onion model) - building blocks - software grouped by theme (Build Service - repositories) - infrastructure for building spinoffs (Build Service - kiwi image build / SUSE Studio) - spin-offs promotion ("gallery" for spin-offs with ratings, download links, etc.) * support diversity - openSUSE as a base for MeeGo, OpenWRT and other projects - desktop spin-offs for users (KDE, GNOME, LXDE, Xfce) - specialized spin-offs like Education, Photo edition 3.) Activities: 3.a.) We need to be excellent in the following: * provide stable core packages with LTS (Factory) * openSUSE Build Service * provide tools for remote system administration * process/mechanism to qualify those custom distribution for usage of openSUSE name/trademark * large testing of various OBS repositories combinations 3.b.) We will try to do the following effectively: * provide the openSUSE distro as it is today (no long term support) * provide environment for web development (webserver/database stack) * provide development tools for C/C++, Java, C#, J, Python, Ruby, ... * collaboration with upstream * collaboration with other Linux distros 3.c.) As project, we will not focus on the following anymore: * There are many packages that exist in Factory and we don't know if they are used or needed. We'll have them in major OBS projects only. -- Best Regards / S pozdravom, Pavol RUSNAK SUSE LINUX, s.r.o openSUSE Boosters Team Lihovarska 1060/12 PGP 0xA6917144 19000 Praha 9 prusnak[at]opensuse.org Czech Republic -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org [View Less]

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[opensuse-project] openSUSE Strategy Discussion: Mobile and cloud ready distribution
by Pavol Rusnak 06 Jul '10

06 Jul '10

Hi all! As we promised earlier[1] starting today we'll be discussing the third of strategies: Mobile and cloud ready distribution[2]. Please try to add your comments to particular bulletpoints or sentences, so it is easier for us to merge your suggestions into final form. Happy discussing! [1] http://news.opensuse.org/2010/06/17/a-strategy-for- the-opensuse-project-proposals-and-discussions/ [2] http://en.opensuse.org/Documents/Strategy/Mobile ----8<--------8<--------8<--------8… [View More]<--------8<--------8<---- openSUSE - Mobile and cloud ready distribution ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.) Statement: We are the Linux distribution that embraces a mobile and social world backed by cloud data services delivering a desktop experience best integrated with those platforms. In addition, we deliver a server solution to host the data and the development tools for those platforms and devices. Our target customers are professionals, developers, IT departments, and mobile consumers. 2.) Use cases: Fred wants to sync his bookmarks, addresses, files, application data, etc. between his desktop machines and mobile devices via the cloud in a seamless manner. Next year, his company plans to run their own private cloud server infrastructure instead of using a public service. Fred also wants to easily connect to the most common social network services out-of-the-box when he installs openSUSE. 3.) Background: We have discussed our expectations for the future and we understand the "Google vision" where Google (as well as other companies but Google is the prime example here) hosts all data that then follows mobile users to wherever they are and whatever kind of (mobile) device they have. Our tweak here is that we think some customers do not wish to use the public infrastructure for their data. 4.) Activities: 4.a.) We need to be excellent in the following: * Create connectivity server for private cloud data service * Support client connectivity to cloud services hosted by others, e.g. Google * Support connectivity to our private cloud service * Establish easy client setup of connectivity and social services * Create Tools for remote administration via smart phones of Linux Desktop incl. WebYaST * Ensure remote administration tools are optimized for use with devices (e.g. YaSTroid) * Deliver integrated development tools for mobile platforms, e.g. Android, MeeGo and WebOS SDKs * Collaborate with Android / Meego / WebOS (not Apple as it is a closed system) * Lobby for open standards for mobile data access 4.b.) We will try to do the following effectively: * Deliver a distribution integrating mobile connectivity * Deliver a build service for building distribution and applications * Provide multiple desktop experiences for everyone wishing to use mobile services * Provide SUSE specific packages: YaST, zypper, AutoYaST, ... * Provide the best social service apps out of the box and make sure users easily find them and configure them * Bugfixing * Testing * Feeding back patches to upstream * Collaboration with upstream * Collaboration with other Linux distros 4.c.) As project, we will not focus on the following anymore: * applications that don't integrate with the mobile world -- Best Regards / S pozdravom, Pavol RUSNAK SUSE LINUX, s.r.o openSUSE Boosters Team Lihovarska 1060/12 PGP 0xA6917144 19000 Praha 9 prusnak[at]opensuse.org Czech Republic -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org [View Less]

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[opensuse-project] Why I wont use the forums
by Stephan Kleine 06 Jul '10

06 Jul '10

Dear list, after having read all those "why I wont use the forums" posts, to which I certainly contributed my share with my "venomous" post I got fed up with it and am somehow wondering how to improve that since we all should be supposed to pull on the same string. So, can we just cut that right now and here and instead find out some way how to make those forums more attractive for the people who are currently not using them and OTOH making forum users create more productive bug reports … [View More]since "reporting by proxy" is NO option IMHO? Regarding the problem: I think it has been established by now that those forums are considered some swamp that makes it very hard to find out some interesting topic one would like to get involved in (may it be because one is interested in the topic or one maintains a package that is related to it). Which is why most people apparently simply don't bother with said forums. OTOH you, the forum admins, have been asked quite some times to introduce some subtopics targeting more specific needs. So could you please reconsider your stance and admit that it will be easier to find "interesting" topics one might be inclined to get involved in if one doesn't have to wade through loads of other stuff? Your, the forum admins`, answer was mostly that said subtopics are already covered by their parent ones (e.g. applications for servers and security). OTOH you happily run some "64-bit" subforum which makes no sense IMHO since this nowadays boils down to having to install the necessary 32-bit compat libs for some binary blobs (e.g. skype). So, to make it short: Can you, the forum admins, please agree that introducing some subforums for specific topics makes it much easier to find "interesting" posts for the "contributor" / "dev" so those would be more inclined to get involved and can we please get some list together of "interesting" topics so those get realized? Point simply being adding some subforum doesn't cost a single $ but makes it much easier to find - personally - "interesting" topics so one gets more inclined to get involved. From my personal POV I would be delighted to see: 1. a "security" one for stuff like apparmor, selinux, ssl with certificates, general server hardening and so on 2. a "server" one for stuff like apache, php, samba, XEN, KVM, general virtualization and so on. Please add some topics you (the "currently not using the forums dude") would like to see so you could more easily identify the topics you are interested in so you might be even more inclined to participate in that forums. Last but not least I'm seriously wondering on those "reporting in bugzilla for forum users" discussion. So could you, the forum admins and users, please make it plain clear to your fellow users that: 1. To report something broken there is only ONE place and that is http://bugzilla.novell.com/ 2. If you (the random user) don't like the interface then welcome to the club but until someone writes a new one this wont change. 3. Reporting a bug as a proxy is plain useless since you (the proxy reporter) will never be able to answer any follow up questions. And here comes the most important one: 4. You need NO knowledge to report a bug but are simply supposed to explain as best as you can what you did to produce that bug. Then the devs will simply ask what you did, if it isn't clear, and tell you what information they need to fix it. If you don't know how to provide that info then simply ASK. Every single dev I know is perfectly happy to tell you how to provide the requested information so really all that is required from you is to create a bugreport, do the best you can and then simply be receptive. Ok, that got quite lengthy, sorry for that and thanks for sticking with me. Please keep it productive. regards, Stephan. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org [View Less]

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[opensuse-project] Women of openSUSE
by Susanne Graf 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

Hi! There are Debian Women, Ubuntu Women and Fedora Women. Where are the openSUSE Women? I'm sure, that there are women who use openSUSE and maybe program on some projects, too. I'm really interested in meeting you and talk about technical things. What about creating a community to bring all of us openSUSE interested women together? If you are a women and use and/or program openSUSE you're welcome to subscribe to the mailinglist. To subscribe to the list just send an empty mail to opensuse-… [View More]

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[opensuse-project] What do LUGs look for?
by Manu Gupta 01 Jul '10

01 Jul '10

Hi All, We all have LUGs in our region at least most of them must be having one I suppose. My question is How do LUGs promote linux all over the world? What all things does the LUGs take under consideration? If LUGs are choosing a distro of your choice, how do LUGs go about it? -- Regards MANU -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-project] Reminder: openSUSE Project Meeting Wednesday 16:00 UTC
by Andreas Jaeger 29 Jun '10

29 Jun '10

The next openSUSE Project meeting will take place tomorrow at 16:00 UTC. See all time zones on the Fixed Time World Clock - timeanddate.com/w.... As always, the meeting will be held in IRC on the #opensuse-project channel on Freenode. The current topics for this meeting are: 1. Old Action Items 2. Status Questions 1. Board 2. Distribution 3. Communication / Events 4. Build Service 3. Questions & Answers 1. From Wiki 2. From Channel If you have more simply add … [View More]

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[opensuse-project] Unified KDE theme for YaST for sudoers
by Otso 28 Jun '10

28 Jun '10

Hi, openSUSE installation defaults to creating a sudo user, whose password is used for administration, unless user explicitly wants to create a proper root account with its own password. Thus it makes no sense, that YaST and other KDE tools requiring root password use different theme than the user does. This makes the desktop experience inconsistent and amateurish. I don't think it's technically impossible or even difficult to pull off, since after all, if you sudo vim (for example), it … [View More]

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