We need a TODO list filled by all engine devs

[jK]

As Auswaschbar already noticed :sniff: the inter-work of us isn't the best, mainly because we don't know what the others plan.

I think a website where all engine devs could add their todo-lists would be ideal (it shouldn't be a request website!).

So if anyone knows projects for such stuff on the Internet please post here, or just add your opinions.

[aegis]

dedicated feature tracker + roadmap?

[hoijui]

+1
no idea what to use for that though.

[jK]

dedicated feature tracker

that's not what I meant, sure it should contain features too, but it should also contain a list unfixed bugs/issues, unfinished code, smaller feature additions, ...

roadmap?

more something like this

no idea what to use for that though.

It would help to coordinate the work of the devs and it gives you an impression what other devs are working on. Atm you only see the commits of a dev, but you don't know what he is working on tomorrow. This way discussions happen (if at all) after a commit, but ideally it would happen before so different opinions would merge into it. Also devs could help each other to split the work. And not to forget all those small bugs/issues we have on our todo lists, which aren't posted neither here on the forum nor on mantis.

Knowing what a dev has on his todo list would also help users with feature requests/bugissues to see how fast his issues get fixed, by just seeing if there are more important things on his list.

[hoijui]

sorry :/
i got that actually, i just did not say right what i meant: i do not know what software/tool to use for this.
i totally agree with your idea, and what to use it for and so on.

tools:

• mantis
• redmine (SL bug tracker)
• github (everyone using branches on his personal account, and other devs following through RSS feeds)
• gobby
• that online site that works a bit like gobby
• google-docs

most are totally non-fitting, and i forgot some and there are others i do not know about ...
just meant as a start.

criteria i can think of:

• needs access control (devs: r/w, rest: r)
• it needs to be very comfortable/easy to look at other devs stuff, so it is the first thing you want to do when getting online. (RSS feeds, a central/single "document"?)

[Licho]

You could just create forum where each dev has own thread and maintains first post with his current WIP.

[koshi]

redmine + http://www.redmine.org/wiki/redmine/PluginStuffToDo

[quantum]

redmine + http://www.redmine.org/wiki/redmine/PluginStuffToDo

+1, a project management system seems perfect for that. There are many to choose from, if you don't like one in particular.

Devs create issues which can be features or bug fixes, set the priority and add them to milestones. Then a dev can assign an issues to himself and set the its status (planning to do it, started, etc). This way people have a nice list from which to pick the next interesting task, everyone knows what everyone else is working on, problem features are discussed early and there is no risk that two people are accidentally working on the same thing.

[hoijui]

using the forum as a TODO list is not really nice:
old stuff will clutter, and lie around forgotten on page 1, not seen by anyone.

the negative with redmine is, that it is too cumbersome to create issues. it am pretty sure we would not use it to list up every little thing and discuss it, if we have to fill a form with 10+ fields each time.

a collaborative editor (eg. gobby) like thing would not suffer from this problem, as it would simply be like editing your local TODO.txt.

[Tobi]

Maybe not so with that redmine TODO list plugin.

I tend to think a full issue tracker is indeed too heavy weight for what jK is suggesting (otherwise why is mantis not used for it?)

Also, wiki? Suprises me that hasn't been suggested yet.

Could have single template page per user + one overview page that includes all those templates.

[koshi]

I would think mantis is not used for this because it's frickin nightmare

the negative with redmine is, that it is too cumbersome to create issues. it am pretty sure we would not use it to list up every little thing and discuss it, if we have to fill a form with 10+ fields each time.

In a vanilla redmine instance there are exactly 2 mandatory fields: Subject and Tracker select (bug/feature/etc.)
On the SL instance (which I guess you're referring to), Reporter,SL version,Platform and Resolution are custom (read: I added them) fields.

[AF]

Mantis is good enough for it but its UI needs a good few updates.

I set up mantis for courseworks, and made a number of changes which vastly improved things:

• Removed the big green mantis logo
• Added a Redmine style project menu on the starting page
• Changed the colours a little to make it prettier
• Added a redmine style breadcrumbs to indiciate the current active project
• Project dependant menu pages are in the same place, but currently logged in user, the project switcher, RSS, date, logout where moved to the top
• Page was centered and a margin was added so it didnt go right ot the edges

There's also a bug in the release and svn versions of the roadmaps page of mantis that means a lot of CSS styling is never applied, hence monospaced characters, I've fixed that before, its quite easy.

Spring Mantis Frontpage:



Spring issues listing:



Darkstars Mantis frontpage:



Issues:

[Pxtl]

I think the simple problem is that adding/modifying issues is too heavyweight since it's always a full open/create-edit-save operation for each action. That's not good for guys who want to sort their task list and quickly add new tasks.

[AF]

A little jquery can fix that with a little plus/minus button to expand and contract that's set to be concise by default. Simply changing the colours in my case made the whole form look a lot less intimidating

[quantum]

Yeah, a fully-featured project management system is not necessarily cumbersome, in the SpringDownloader project on google code, we make a new issue for every smallest thing, even unimportant stuff that takes 2 minutes to implement. It takes like 15 seconds, and the gui is clear and responsive.

[Licho]

But for todo its better to use wiki i think.

[Das Bruce]

I'm going to vote for wiki as well.

[hoijui]

to me, (gobby + sticking to markdown format) > wiki
the markdown format is not a must, but it costs nothing, and allows for nice HTML viewing like a Wiki. the big pro of the first solution is, it lets you edit in a normal text editor -> most comfortable we will get - instead of having to use forms (which may ask for commit messages). Wiki is also more cumbersome when multiple devs edit a document at the same time. I also do not think that we need pretty output, most important is, it is comfortable to use, and allows for listing-up things and discussion.
That time we tried it on the SL server, it seemed to work fine for me, we just had to train our selfs to always connect to it.

[aegis]

etherpad is open-source, wouldn't need a gobby client to edit

[hoijui]

sounds good to me.

source code and setup instructions:
http://etherpad.com/ep/blog/posts/ether ... ce-release