GAE Proposal

[Omega]

Yeah, but I'd like to take a shot at programming the source, but can't find a working download.

[asmodeus]

I was meaning every release. I wouldn't do it for every commit. I'm not insane.  :lol:  

Actually that is just good business as it provides an easy way for Gentoo ebuilds (and other source based distributions) to download the code for their builds.

[Ayrin Greenflag]

i think we need to make developing plan for GAE with steps to follow

[hailstone]

The plan at the moment is to get people compiling and get the website up. No point doing anything until that is sorted.

1. Get people compiling for Linux
2. Get people compiling for Windows
3. Get website and mailing lists setup
4. Start accepting patches and assigning maintainers and sort out minor problems
5. Start adding larger features

[mictes]

OK, how to compile for windows ? I'm absolute noob, but when you explain it to me I'll trie !

[Ayrin Greenflag]

mictes i think the problem is find someone that can do that  
about the website there is already some layout? i remember i saw something somewhere

[orion]

I was the one that made the original (crappy) website style and I've already started making a new one. I will help with the sourceforge website, but I was seriously thinking of making my own for the GAE. I've been making some new javascript libraries with some pretty cool animations in it. The thing about sourceforge is that it offers low disk space.

PS: Like i said, I will still help with the sourceforge website.

[Ayrin Greenflag]

Orion if u need space i've tons on lostinn...let me know

[hailstone]

I hardly think 100MB is low space for a website that isn't hosting release files. The only files that would take up space would be screenshots and even they aren't too big.

Thanks for the offer Ayrin. What sort of hosting do you have? Do you have shell access?

[Ayrin Greenflag]

shell? ehm what is?
i have php/mysql but i don't remember any more details...u can see in powweb site the details

[hailstone]

SSH (secure shell) is a way to access primarily unix based computers remotely. If you did, it would be a good place to have a lobby/master server running.

[Ayrin Greenflag]

i see no ssh take a look http://http://www.powweb.com/powweb/hosting.bml

[daniel.santos]

I'm just getting a chance to catch up with some of the discussions, you guys were getting things organized, awesome!  Personally, I say add me to that programmer's list and I would prefer to use the glest.codemonger.org site/repository, but I'll let the community decide.  Also, I want to make sure that everybody had the access they need.  I second the nomination of hailstone as project coordinator.  Maybe we can set up meetings every now and again on freenode in #glest or #glest-gae or something?  Then you can can coordinate us

[@kukac@]

Will you make the sourcefiles opensource, so anyone can edit/solve bugs/etc. even if he just jump in for a while?

[omi]

Free access to a SVN server?...
I think that this is not good idea to give free access to write but  it is a good idea is to give access for all to read.

[gameboy]

why can't wciow be in the Graphics team his models and textures are awesone. I'll do mostly the animation but i'll also make some models when i have the time.

[ZaggyDad]

I'll do animation, too, if I can get around to it enough. And Gameboy, I think you'd do well making textures, too. You do a nice job on them. You just need to try to make more large textures, and then they'll probably be excellent.

[hailstone]

Omi seems good at programming too. He would be welcome on the programmers list.

Will you make the sourcefiles opensource, so anyone can edit/solve bugs/etc. even if he just jump in for a while?

The maintainers are the gatekeepers for the source. Anyone can make changes to their copy then submit patches for review.

I have a few issues with using your server:
- I've already created a project on sourceforge
- would it be difficult to move everything from your server to another in the future?
- what if you became unavailable again?
- would need to setup project software (probably not a big issue)

I was hoping to have FPM and GAE as separate projects with GAE offering more of a skeleton implementation of a game. So having GAE on sourceforge and FPM on your server. That way other people would be able to make new games easier. There would need to be quite a few changes for this so it might be good to wait until we get the stable 0.2.x branch done. In the meantime I could upload releases to sourceforge and use your server for svn.

Are we going to make tools (i.e. glexml, map editor) stable too?

Maybe we can set up meetings every now and again

The large time zone differences would make it hard for everyone to meet at the same time. It might be possible but I think a mailing list would serve the same function.

I think a 3 month release cycle could be good too. That means 4 known times a year for releases. It doesn't need to be a major release just as long as there is at least one change.

Some software I found:
Flyspray - bug tracking
Submin - web svn
Mailman - mailing list

[gameboy]

And Gameboy, I think you'd do well making textures, too. You do a nice job on them. You just need to try to make more large textures, and then they'll probably be excellent.

I appreciate the complement Zaggy but i don't really like making textures, but well maybe now and then i could make or improve some.

[daniel.santos]

Omi seems good at programming too. He would be welcome on the programmers list.

I'm stoked about his tinyxml port  I would prefer to use the repository on my server, but you have some very good points.  One thing I don't know how to do is move revision history from one svn server to another, that is, without file-system access, which can get messy, so I'm sure sourceforge.net doesn't do it.  Part of the idea or cvs, svn, etc. is that you can have a single repository that contains multiple projects, like gae & fpm.  What fpm doesn't have (and really needs IMO) is to be setup like a real subversion project with a the root containing branches, trunk and tags (like we're doing with gae).  Other than the history, it's not hard to move stuff around and merge between repositories (even different repositories) with subversion.  You can even make changes in one repository, make changes in the other and then merge those changes.  You usually end up with conflicts however, and I just figured out a nice way to resolve them using kdiff3 (you have to make a wrapper script and set your SVN_MERGE variable before you do the merge).

But I agree that GAE should be the main focus here.  To me, FPM becomes a mechanism to illustrate GAE's functionality while being something cool at the same time

Are we going to make tools (i.e. glexml, map editor) stable too?

I hadn't thought about that, and in fact, I've never even seen glexml (good name though).  It would definitely be nice to have a GUI for modifying a tech tree, tileset, etc.  I haven't played with the map editor much recently, but it appears to be working now (at least in 0.3).  Where can I find glexml?

[Ayrin Greenflag]

Orion, Mictes, write to me and let me know how can i help with website

[wciow]

Glexemel is in the tools repository of the Glest site.
http://www.glest.org/files/contrib/tools/

I would like to see the GAE and FPM more strictly defined as seperate projects but I also think they have a useful relationship. FPM provides the art assets to show off the new code and provides ideas about what would improve gameplay, whilst the GAE lays the down the code. Also FPM serves a useful function in actually trying out the new code in practice (road-testing really).

I'm still interested in helping to document and organize both projects. With Daniels consent I would like to add some more structure to the FPM since it is really just a forum thread with various contributions right now.
Hopefully we can get all the currently active artists on the forum together to discuss the project.

[daniel.santos]

Glexemel is in the tools repository of the Glest site.
http://www.glest.org/files/contrib/tools/

Thanks, I"ll check it out.

With Daniels consent I would like to add some more structure to the FPM since it is really just a forum thread with various contributions right now.
Hopefully we can get all the currently active artists on the forum together to discuss the project.

You've done somewhere around half the work on FPM, you don't need my consent!  I think agreement is a good thing however, and I encourage you to move forward.  If you want to write up some document, just check it into source control, maybe in the root of the FPM tree.

What I definitely don't want is for GAE to depend *upon* FPM.  I agree with wciow's expression about it and I also see FPM as a showcase for GAE functionality.

[hailstone]

There is an option in sourceforge to use a non-SF.net Resource for svn and the website can be redirected.
It also allows svn dump files (http://alexandria.wiki.sourceforge.net/ ... ode#import)

I have more concern with migrating the data of trackers and mailing lists. I can activate the wiki if you wanted something on there (people could put their timezones and I could see if it's possible to have a meeting).

What do people think about a release cycle?

Perhaps we could have a setup like this.
SVN: codemonger
Website: codemonger
Trackers: sourceforge
Mailinglist: sourceforge
Forum: glestboard
IRC: freenode  #glestae
File releases: sourceforge + codemonger
Lobby server: codemonger

Edit: I had a friend who stored his website on svn then used a python script to copy it to the web server directory. That might be good for this.

[gameboy]

My time zone's IST (UTC+5:30)