Progress Report 4

[Justin Edward Muniz]

This report is for the project to develop graphical front ends to aid
in simple to complex package management. The time covered in this
report started July the Ninth and ended the Fifteenth. More
information about this project can be found at
https://wiki.freebsd.org/SummerOfCode2013/pkgQtGtk; please let me know
if you have questions that are not answered there.

In an effort to keep the documentation up to date, I spent the
beginning of the week updating the layout and content of the project
Wiki page. I became aware that the Wiki page must serve a wider
audience than I had considered. I have endeavored to have the wiki
page be the hub for users, developers, University faculty; as well as
for Summer of Code students, mentors and administrators. The
current enhancements as well as pending future updates will help
me stay organized.

Also towards the beginning of the week, I discovered the flaw that had
been plaguing PackageKit-Setter. After some testing I determined that
the script seemed to be in working order; it can currently perform all
of the required tasks. I then created the files to include the
utility in the ports collection. After reviewing the ports files with
my mentor, they seem to test just fine without warnings. More testing,
as per the porter's handbook will be performed. I still have yet to
make use of portlint and poudriere; I am still learning about them.

I have learned how to patch my new temporary back end into PackageKit;
and I have begun making the necessary changes to the Makefiles to
make it happen. The progress in this area has been somewhat hindered
by my lack of proficiency with the Makefile format requirements.
Though it has taken me a few tries, I have made progress and will soon
test my temporary back end for the first time. I still have to finish
ruby helper script.

The back end work was mostly on the back burner, so to speak, as my
work for the latter part of the week shifted toward GUI development. I
continued to identify problems with the existing front end situation,
as well as enhancements to provide more functionality and information.
I also worked on squashing some bugs with gnome-packagekit, as well
as some work on the gnome-packagekit user interface elements.
Glade ended up being just the tool I was looking for.
Wrapping up the necessary bug fixes to get gnome-packagekit to work
with the ports back end became the highest priority.

I also truly started with my University internship work on Thursday.
The expectations, as well as the work, are very extensive. I spent
some time working the academic requirements into my work with my
mission being to provide better quality work all around, and making
sure to meet all of my goals simultaneously.

As a side-note, I also found the personal time to look into using
FreeBSD on a mobile device. I am pursuing developing my code, in part,
on my iPod. I have a solid plan of action, and I will determine my
success next week. As active as I am, mobile FreeBSD will be very
useful to me. It seems I might be blazing a new trail here, so I
think it is rather exciting.

Thank you for reading, please look forward to my future progress.

Justin Edward Muniz