[Buildbot-devel] GSoC 2011 - Master-Side Source Steps

[Dustin J. Mitchell]

I agree with Tom.  Particularly with a weak Python background, we'll
need to be convinced that you can learn about Buildbot quickly and
focus in on the difficult parts of this project.  Here are some
suggestions for areas of further study.

Since this project will change the network protocol used between
masters and slaves, compatibility will be a serious issue.  How will a
master that has your patches applied talk to a slave that does not?
How will an old master talk to a slave that does have your patches
applied?

What operations will master-side source steps need, that are not
already implemented on the slave?

How can you use unit tests (Buildbot already has a large suite) to
demonstrate that your patches will not change Buildbot's overall
behavior?

What specific source steps would you change first?  Your timeline
suggests that you will take 3-4 weeks to write some new methods
(master-side or slave-side?), which seems a bit long if those are
methods of only one step.  I'd like to see some evidence that you've
had a look at the code in the timeline.  Also, a deliverable should be
something concrete that we can merge into Buildbot and users can see
benefit from.  Additional functions that aren't called doesn't meet
that criterion.  Design documents do not, either.

Finally, I'm not entirely clear on your time constraints - you will be
attending classes and working on your monograph during the GSoC
period?  Will you be able to devote the equivalent of full time to
GSoC?

Dustin