[Buildbot-devel] Comments on the 'nine' project

[Dustin J. Mitchell]

On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 9:35 PM, Jason Edgecombe <jason at rampaginggeek.com> wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> I'm new participant of the buildbot community. I wanted to offer some
> feedback on 'nine':
>
> As I understand the dependencies for nine are the following:
> * python and various modules
> * some DB (sqlite, mysql, postgres or other)
> * java
> * node.js?
>
> Optional dependencies may include:
> * AMQP

Let me just stop you right there.  Buildbot-0.8.x requires:

 * Python (obviously)
 * Some DB (sqlite, etc. -- sqlite is built into Python)

Buildbot-0.9.x will require:

 * Python (obviously)
 * Some DB (sqlite, etc. -- sqlite is built into Python)

but it's a little more complicated:
 - if you want to do web development, or *build* the buildbot-www
package, you'll need Node and Java.  It's a Dojo app, and that's what
Dojo requires.  We've taken pains to not make either a requirement for
users - you can simply 'pip install' buildbot-www and be on your way.
 - for a single master, nothing else is required
 - if you want multiple masters, you'll need a server-based DB
(already the case in 0.8.x) and a messaging system of some sort.  As I
mentioned in my previous email, I'd like to minimize the requirements
for the messaging system.  Whether that means communication through
the DB, a simple implementation in Twisted, or adding a ZeroMQ
requirement remains to be seen.

> May I ask why all of these dependencies are needed?

With the above corrections, hopefully you see that we've given the
matter a good deal of thought already.

> This is my opinion as a sysadmin, and I've been known to be a drive-by
> contributor who jumps between open source projects.

I'm a sysadmin too.  I think development needs more people approaching
it with an operational perspective.

I know that the work on nine is hard to track - it moves slowly, and
much of it is still loosely planned.  I'm afraid with the limited
resources on the project, I feel obliged to focus on the code rather
than process.  As it gains more momentum and others begin hacking on
it, perhaps that will change.

Dustin