Application for GSoC and proposal

Tue Mar 20 20:46:06 UTC 2012

Here I'm starting with my proposal:

Please read it and help me improving it.

*Introduction*

I noticed that deploying applications to Linux is not that easy, especially
when considering that there are a lot of different Linux distributions out
there. OpenSUSE (or exactly Novell) found a solution for that, the Open
Build Service. The Build Service brings a lot of comfort for developers and
packagers, however to deploy an app with the Build Service, you need at
least do know the basics about RPM and Deb and a lot of time. For
Developers using Linux as main development platform this is of course not a
big problem, but especially when a project is developed for different
platforms, developers might be frightened about deploying applications to
Linux, especially smaller projects. The aim of the project Bretzn was to
connect various services on the internet for building and deploying
applications. In the end of 2010 the beta of a plug-in for the IDE Qt
Creator was released. The plug-in looked very interesting, but a final
version was never released. So my suggestion is, bringing project Bretzn
back to live and to create an application for deploying software on Linux.

*The goals of the project*:

   -

   making deployment of applications on Linux easy
   -

   saving lots of time for releasing applications and updates on
   openDesktop.org
   -

   providing a plug-in for Kdevelop

*Implementation*:

The project should start where the development of the Qt Creator plug-in
was stopped. The plug-in used the lib Attica, which provides an easy to use
framework for using the Open Collaboration Services. Instead of developing
this project purely as Kdevelop plug in, I would prefer developing a
standalone application and providing a plug-in that makes use of this
application. The application should automatically generate .spec files for
RPM distributions and the necessary files for Deb distributions. Data like
the application description or the changelog could be input with an easy to
use GUI.

*Timeline:*

   -

   Analyzing the code of the previous project and getting information from
   the developers
   -

   Designing first parts of the GUI
   -

   Implementing the specfile and debian.rules generator
   -

   Implementing the project-file management and tarball creator
   -

   Implementing the parts of the application that use the OCS API
   -

   Finishing the GUI
   -

   Creating the Kdevelop plug-in
   -

   Getting in touch with the users
   -

   Testing
   -

   Optimizing and bug fixing

Especially because a lot of the tasks that should be done are well
documented, all this should be done within one to two months, providing
enough time if problems, or things that where not thought of, occur.

*About me:*

I am studying electronic engineering at the University of *A**pplied
Sciences Technikum* Vienna. I have a lot of experience developing Qt
applications, because I am a open source developer since a long time. (one
of my newest projects is PhyxCalc:
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/PhyxCalc?content=149161) I am also one
of the OpenSUSE ambassadors for Austria, making me especially suitable for
this job as developer of the Build Service plug-in.

Regards
Alexander

2012/3/17 Aleix Pol <aleixpol at kde.org>

> On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 9:27 PM, Alexander Rössler
> <mail.aroessler at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello kdeveleop-developers,
> >
> > I'm an electronic engineering student form Austria and I like to apply
> for
> > kdevelop on GSoC. I am using kdevelop as my preferred development
> > environment for C and so I would like to help you improving kdevelop at
> > GSoc. I have a lot of experience with Qt/C++, KDE and Linux and I am also
> > OpenSUSE ambassador for Austria. As you can see, I'm not new to the open
> > source community. If you like to see my current Qt project
> > visit: http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/PhyxCalc?content=149161
> >
> > I like your GSoC ideas for kdevelop, but I have following to add: When I
> > developed PhyxCalc I came to one point, where I had to deploy my
> application
> > for several Linux desktops. As I am a OpenSUSE user, I knew the Open
> Build
> > Service very well. So I deployed my application via the build service,
> > however, it was quite a pain to get everything working. New developers,
> > especially developers coming from Windows, might be deterred of the
> > deployment of applications on Linux (without the build service it is even
> > more a pain). So I found this on the
> > internet: http://qt-project.org/forums/viewthread/2890 This plugin is
> not
> > developed any more (and wasn't finished anyway), but I think it would be
> > nice if kdevelop would have such a plugin. Especially for small projects
> > this would be perfect, it would make deploying applications for Linux
> easy
> > (and even improve the success of the open source community).
> >
> > Regards
> > Alexander Rössler (aka Strahlex)
> >
> > --
> > KDevelop-devel mailing list
> > KDevelop-devel at kdevelop.org
> > https://barney.cs.uni-potsdam.de/mailman/listinfo/kdevelop-devel
> >
>
> Hi Alexander!
> Yes it's a good idea and something that can be useful, but it also has
> to be properly thought through before making a proposal out of it.
>
> I'll be looking forward to your proposal.
>
> Aleix
>
> --
> KDevelop-devel mailing list
> KDevelop-devel at kdevelop.org
> https://barney.cs.uni-potsdam.de/mailman/listinfo/kdevelop-devel
>
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