CJ started this conversation on the list - lets keep it there. ----- Forwarded message from David Bisset ----- From: David Bisset Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 10:56:57 +0100 To: 'Hector Oron' , 'Neil Williams' , 'Nick Bane' Cc: 'Toby Churchill' , 'Chris Jones' , 'Wookey' Subject: Balloon Build System Reply-To: david@itechnic.co.uk X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=4.5 tests=AWL,BAYES_00,HTML_MESSAGE autolearn=no version=3.2.5 It is ironic that Toby and I had a on Thursday chat about how the Balloon build system was now looking much more usable than it had been for years. I am guessing that CJ had problems because he checked out Head and not the stable tag? (I am hoping that a stable tag exists and that this was simply a communication problem…) Therefore Hector’s latest mods caught him out. It’s very important that when we make changes like this there is: a) Consultation prior to major change. (Message on Balloon list) b) Indication of what will cause problems to others as a result of the change. c) Testing of any build system changes on a blank checkout prior to Head check-in. (Note it must build a bare metal install by default and this must be tested on a wiped board, and must work). d) Clear notification to the balloon list of the check-in to Head of the working system. (All dev work must be done in a branch until complete and releasable, Head should never be unusable. There is a difference between unstable and unusable). e) Quick response to bug notifications (it needs to be clear what tags are needed against bugs when logged in TRAC). f) It is very important that board developers (i.e. people who use the build system as a part of their development process rather than those working on the development system itself) can choose not to use the latest fixes kernel versions etc. and that once they find a check-out that works they can stick to it. (Exactly why I still refuse to move from menuconfig to menuconfig2) Build system changes will have an impact on project time scales, developer time, and people’s stress levels and build system developers need to understand this. Let me put an example to you the other way round. How frustrated would you be if I change the pinout of a connector on Balloon or decide that the console is now on COM2 or change the audio codec without telling you? That’s how we feel when a trusted development environment fails to build one day without us having changed anything. Please lets get this right it... Regards, David __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 5989 (20110327) __________ The message was checked by ESET Smart Security. http://www.eset.com ----- End forwarded message ----- ----- Forwarded message from Hector Oron ----- From: Hector Oron Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:19:44 +0100 To: david@itechnic.co.uk Cc: David Bisset , Neil Williams , Nick Bane , Toby Churchill , Chris Jones , Wookey Subject: Re: Balloon Build System X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 required=4.5 tests=AWL,BAYES_00, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW,SPF_PASS autolearn=ham version=3.2.5 Hi, 2011/3/27 David Bisset : > I am guessing that CJ had problems because he checked out Head and not the > stable tag? He is checking out development branch ('menuconfig2'). The stable tag is: > (I am hoping that a stable tag exists and that this was simply a > communication problem…) > > Therefore Hector’s latest mods caught him out. The main issues is that CJ cannot use 1.0-stable tag as it is too old for what he needs to do, so I am trying to get a 2.0-stable tag code named barmy (based on Nick's menuconfig2), but I have not had the time yet to fix all the buggy stuff. When I got it ready, I was planning to mail to mailing list and make it current trunk/ > It’s very important that when we make changes like this there is: Sure, but I guess that needs to be done on the stable tag and not on the current development branch. If people wants to play with current development it is fine, but please help us fixing it with patches and useful comments (system is still in development) and even we asked in the mailing lists for several times, nobody care enough (did not reply to any of the requests) to make a stable, usable menuconfig2 system. In anycase, it is in the way, should not take long to get it there. > Please lets get this right it... We are in the way, please be patient... :-) Cheers, --  Héctor Orón "Our Sun unleashes tremendous flares expelling hot gas into the Solar System, which one day will disconnect us." -- Day DVB-T stop working nicely Video flare: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100510.html ----- End forwarded message ----- Wookey -- Principal hats: Linaro, Emdebian, Wookware, Balloonboard, ARM http://wookware.org/