Comments please: Ports 2.0 SoC application to Google
Aryeh M. Friedman
aryeh.friedman at gmail.com
Fri Mar 28 11:05:02 PDT 2008
Tobias Roth wrote:
> Aryeh M. Friedman wrote:
>
>
>> Kip Macy <kip.macy at gmail.com> has agreed to be the mentor for the
>> project if accepted as a SoC project provided that no other suitable
>> mentor can be found. For detailed development schedule see the
>> "Detailed Description" portion of the this application. I have used
>> FreeBSD since 1995 and before returning to school worked as a research
>> scientist and director of R&D for a very early pioneer of streaming
>> media which was a 100% FreeBSD shop and required substantial
>> modifications to the network stack and file subsytems of the kernel
>> (most of which have been since incorporated into the mainstream TCP/IP
>> stack/kernel and/or made unnecessary by them). See resume for more
>> detail.
>>
>
> So, who will be the mentor? You or Kip?
>
Kip is the mentor but since before returning to school, as I said, I
have had executive level responsibilities so am able to work with
minimal supervision.
>
>
>> Key Milestones and deadlines:
>>
>> Milestone Deadline
>> ------------------------------------------------
>> Complete the build skeleton Week 1
>>
Demostrate ability to compile and test all components using placeholder
code.
>> Complete the graph library Week 3
>>
Demonstrate ability to construct dependency DAG and do a DFS, BFS and
Topo Search on it.
>> Dependency scanning Week 5
>>
Create an accurate build order list for some subset of ports with the
minimum some non-root node sharing common dependencies.
>> Demonstration of dry run over xorg and Week 6
>> items from feature 6
>>
Produce a completely accurate build order and echo the appropriate
commands that would build each port
>> Demonstration of building an Week 7
>> non-cyclical ports graph
>>
Show the systems ability to install and update some port that has no
common ancestors
>> Alpha test of xorg build Week 9
>>
Xorg builds without problem on my machine
>> Beta test of xorg build Week 11
>>
Xorg builds without problem on at least 3 other configurations beyond my
machine.
>> Complete API and theoretical Week 12
>> documentation
>>
>
>
Document all public methods and give enough theortical background so
that a module developer will not inadvertently break the system.
See in line comments. General comments from my R&D experience I have
learned to leave milestones as vague as possible because by the very
nature of R&D you generally don't know the outcome before you try to
create it.
> These seem very vague on first glance. Milestones have to have a
> measurable level of completeness, i.e. if you as an implementor or
> contractor claim the milestone is done, I as a project manager have to
> be able to verify it really is. Things like "Dependency scanning" don't
> qualify.
>
> More examples:
>
> Instead of "Complete the graph library", list the necessary features of
> that library. Or, instead of "Alpha test of xorg build", describe tests
> that have to pass, and make sure what the difference between "Alpha and
> Beta" is in that case.
>
>
> I admit I haven't read through all of the Wiki entry, so maybe that
> information is there to be found. But don't expect a person at Google
> with hundreds of applications in front of him or her to go and collect
> data from various websites. This stuff has to be in the proposal, and it
> has to be detailed.
>
> As it is now, I would never accept this task as a contractor, because
> it's not clear what exactly the outcome has to look like in order for me
> to get my money. I expect it's the same for SoC students and people at
> Google approving applications.
>
> Also, this doesn't look like it's even remotely possible to finish this
> in two months, but that's just an uneducated guess from my side.
>
> Regards,
> Tobias
>
>
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