[Buildbot-devel] GSoC 2012 - Windows stuff

[Dustin J. Mitchell]

On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Timothy Baldock <tb at entropy.me.uk> wrote:
> I've got a fair amount of experience working with Windows, and have done
> a bit of Python in the past too. The project page had one task in
> particular which sounded interesting around looking at improvements to
> process management in Windows (involving work with Twisted). I'd also be
> interested in working on other aspects of improving support for Windows
> as well.
>
> Just wanted to say hi and make myself known, and ask if anyone has any
> more suggestions to help me make a proposal :)

This sounds great!  The project idea page should direct you to a tag
full of windows-related bugs, which can give you a nice start.

This particular project is, essentially, a "fix some broken
implementations" kind of bug -- rather than "build a shiny new
feature!" -- which makes it *much* more valuable to the project, and
also scales better into a summer's work.  That is, if you aim to solve
*all* of the windows bugs, and only solve half, then we're all still
better off.

I think there are a few interesting things you could do here (and a
summer would probably involve more than one):
 - make the buildslave more flexible and reliable in starting,
stopping, and managing subprocesses on Windows
 - make the buildslave easier to deploy on Windows (MSI for
installing? Windows service? Taskbar monitoring?)
 - make the buildmaster easier to deploy on Windows

Beyond the summer, we're working to build a corps of people who can
address new Windows-related bugs, e.g., #1061, as they come up, and
ensure that the Windows Buildbot experience continues to be good.
Perhaps you could be part of that corps?

Dustin