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

[Jason Edgecombe]

On 01/06/2013 10:15 PM, Dustin J. Mitchell wrote:
> 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
My apologies. I'm glad to see that someone has considered these issues 
and that java and node.js are only build/dev dependencies. I'm pleased 
to meet another hybrid admin+developer ;)

I hope that my buildbot puppet module helps in some way. I have a 
working Vagrant setup to build and install buildbot 0.8 from git. I'm 
willing to share any of this.

Sincerely,
Jason