Re: Call for Foundation-supported Project Ideas

On Wed, Nov 24, 2021 at 1:42 AM Joseph Mingrone <jrm@freebsd.org> wrote:

> Hello FreeBSD community,
>
> The Foundation is seeking suggestions for new projects to support.  What
> gaps in the Project are not being addressed by the broader community?
>
> You can read about past Foundation-supported projects at
> https://freebsdfoundation.org/our-work/projects/ and the Foundation's
> four main areas of focus in the 'Technology Roadmap' article at
> https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/technology-roadmap/.
>
> Right now we are gathering ideas.  We will send out a call for project
> grant proposals soon.  If you prefer to send your project ideas directly
> to the Foundation, we will be monitoring responses at
> techteam@freebsdfoundation.org.
>
> --
> Joe (with Foundation hat on)
>
>


(1)

Please see the following pages :


https://getfedora.org/

https://spins.fedoraproject.org/
Fedora Spins : Alternative desktops for Fedora

https://labs.fedoraproject.org/
Fedora Labs :  Functional bundles for Fedora

In FreeBSD , there is need to produce such releases
( including KDE , and frequently used other ones as many as possible to
produce )
to be installed and usable easily to attract newcomers to the FreeBSD
without
requiring intricate ( and possibly very difficult ) parameter settings .


(2)

Separate Handbook  sliding versions and make it  Handbook per version , and
make available for each version just like
manual pages specific to versions .


(3)

Before releasing a message to the mailing list , get a link from the
related archive and insert that link
at the beginning or end of the message .  In that way , it will be possible
to omit the text and use the link of the message .
In cell phones and for long messages , and persons tracking the mailing
lists continuously this structure will be more
convenient . This structure will be a little difficult for  readers who
rarely read messages . Please make positive
discrimination toward the frequently readers .

(4)

To my knowledge , if a thread spans successive  months , their links are
not connected . This is causing unnecessary searches or
missing messages of the previous month . Correct this situation by linking
properly to messages covering successive months .

(5)

In the mailing list messages , there are a huge number of useful ideas . At
present , these are nearly all lost .
To find them , it is necessary to write a proper phrase in searches . When
such a phrase is not written ,
it is not possible to find them .


Generate a blog-like website with pages containing a manual text fetched
from manual pages for display with proper
links . Allow people to put comments into these pages . When a comment is
entered , send it the respective
mailing list and link mailing list responses to these messages . Time to
time , transfer usable parts into manual pages
as if they are a knowledge acquisition . In that way , over time , improve
manual pages step by step .

Inform the people at the beginning that their ideas will/may be transferred
to manual pages with the FreeBSD license .


(6)

Apply a similar process described in (5) to the Handbook by using its parts
as pages of the respective website .


(7)

Apply a similar process described in (5) to the configuration files by
using them as pages of the respective website .


(8)

Include a list of files in a release with their hash codes usable for
      (i) Checking integrity of respective files over time ( including
updated files by the system upgrades )
      (ii) Usable during upgrading a new version with gaps larger than 1 as
much as possible .


(9)

There is not any available  "Compatible  mainboards , webcams , video cards
, ... , etc. "  page containing especially
current products available in many countries .  Sticking to a special
country is of no use world wide .
Asus is maintaining a list for Linux , but not FreeBSD .
An important point is to list currently available products . In some lists
( they may be related to other operating systems )
there are nearly all archaic products that it is not possible to find and
buy them . To maintain such a list is only a waste of
resources .


(9)

FreeBSD wiki contains an index but it is not an "organized properly"
structure .
Make the wiki like a different Handbook by defining a comprehensive
"Contents" part
and linking pages to these contents pages . In that way , it will be
possible to read wiki pages
in a consistent manner .
It is possible to perform a search , if the reader knows the "perfect"
keyword . Mostly an unlikely situation .



The above ideas are coming to my mind at present .
My main education is  "Statistics and Operations Research" with
continuation in
"Computing Sciences and Engineering" .

Since the historical times , I am always saying that

"Solving a problem ALWAYS generates one or more problems to solve ."

Life is centered on this structure . Over time , we will always l try to
solve new problems .

Personally I am not an expert to solve any one of the above problems . If I
could do it , I would
submit a possible solution instead of writing it as a possible problem .


My aim is not implicitly to blame our very valuable developers of  FreeBSD
, but only express ideas
about which parts can be improved more to attract new users for FreeBSD .

With my best wishes ,


Mehmet Erol Sanliturk