OpenOffice.org Process Inventory II

Jeff Love, Louis Suárez-Potts

Last modified 28 June 2001

This document is a modified version of one Jeff Love wrote for NetBeans's migration. I have modified it to fit OpenOffice.org. The document contains a list of common tasks currently undertaken by OpenOffice.org project owners and admins, and a description of how that task will be completed in SourceCast.

NB If an important element has been missed, please let me know: louis@openoffice.org. Comments and questions should also be sent to me. If I cannot answer a question, I will defer it to Jeff Love, who is leading the upgrade.

User Tasks

Registering

How it is done now:

• Admin account created by member granting access
• Issuezilla account created by User

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: User creates own account; unified issuezilla, admin and cvs access in one user

How to do it in SourceCast

• On Home Page, click Register Now
• Enter in chosen username, email address (must be valid), Real Name, Organization (if desired)
• Click "Register"
• Once you press "Register", you will see the login screen and a password will be send to your email address.
• As soon as you receive your password, copy it into a clipboard space
• Go to Home Page and enter username and password and hit enter
• You will be put onto "My Home Page"
• Click "Edit Profile" Link
• Type in chosen password
• Retype chosen password
• Click Submit Changes

When do I need to Register/Login?

How it is done now:

• Browsing Web Content: No login needed
• CVS access: No account needed to download repository (anoncvs). Must have admin account created by other member to gain COMMIT access to the repository.
• IssueZilla access: Users create accounts themselves . Admin privileges granted by other Issuezilla admins
• Admin Access: Users don't request admin access themselves -- they must be created by other members -- control/create mailing lists, projects,etc.

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Users create accounts themselves and then are approved by a SourceCast Administrator; Logging in is assumed to be much more frequent than in Tigris. Assumptions are made once you have logged in to SourceCast that presents certain information to you on "My Start Page" based on the projects that you are a part of (such as news and your project links and links to your issues on that project); If Developer or Content Developer, allows write access to project resources, but not to configure those resources; If role on project is project Owner -- user has access to configure all project resources

How to do it in SourceCast

• Browsing Web Content: No login needed
• CVS access: No account needed to download repository (anoncvs). Commit access requires an account with Developer, Content Developer (HTML only) or project Owner status on a project
• Issuezilla: No login needed to QUERY and CHANGE existing bugs. Login necessary to lodge new bugs
• Admin Access: Always be logged in to have administrative access

Downloading the CVS Repository

How it is done now:

• Command Line or GUI client - set CVSROOT=:pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.services.OpenOffice.org:/cvs
• cvs login
• password: (no password, just hit enter)
• cvs co -c (list all projects available)
• cvs co all (or project name, etc)

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: None

How to do it in SourceCast

• Command Line or GUI client - set CVSROOT=:pserver:anoncvs@anoncvs.services.OpenOffice.org:/cvs
• cvs login
• password: (no password, just hit enter)
• cvs co -c (list all projects available)
• cvs co all (or project name, etc)

Uploading to the CVS Repository

How it is done now:

• Command Line or GUI client - set CVSROOT=:pserver:<username>@OpenOffice.org:/cvs
• cvs login
• password: (username's password, hit enter)
• cvs commit <filename>

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: None

How to do it in SourceCast

• Command Line or GUI client - set CVSROOT=:pserver:<username>@OpenOffice.org:/cvs
• cvs login
• password: (username's password, hit enter)
• cvs commit <filename>

Joining a project

How it is done now:

• Not done explicitly in Tigris now. Users are granted commit access to the entire repository by a project owner.

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast:

• Users who actively participate should "Join a project"
• this will signify that they are actively participating on the project;
• It will put the user in the "Members" section of the project Resources header
• Give them commit access if they request a Developer Role
• Make the project show up as a link in the "My projects" section of the "My Start Page"

How to do it in SourceCast

• click Join This project on the far right side of the screen in the project Home page
• which takes you to the project Membership Request page.
• The radio buttons in the middle of the page present you with several role options.
• Think of the roles as a method of informing the project owner of how you intend to contribute. You may request, or even be asked, to fulfill more than one role at some point, and you can certainly fulfill other roles on different projects.
• To select a project role, click on the radio button to the left of the desired role and click on the Submit Request button at the end of the list of roles.
• The project Owner will then need to approve or disapprove this role and you will receive an email from the project owner when this action has been taken.
• Once you are a project member and your involvement progresses, you may wish to change your role in a project.
• The project Home page includes a Request New project Role link in the top right corner of the same page you originally used to request membership in the project.

Choosing Role in a project

How it is done now:

• Not done explicitly in Tigris now. Users are granted commit access to the entire repository by a project owner.

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: The role that you choose on a project both signifies to the community what type of participation you have on the project as well governs what types of commit access (Developer or Content Developer)or access to administrative functions you will have (project Owner);

How to do it in SourceCast:

The following details the various permission that the roles you have the option to choose from carry:

• Views, but does not change project resources (news, files, mailing lists, documentation, source code, issue tracking).
• Read-only access to most project resources.
• Read-only access to web content and source code (CVS).
• Submits issue to issue tracking (IssueZilla)
• Subscribes and posts to project mailing lists.

Developer

• Contributes directly to project -- source code and HTML.
• Gains write access (with approval from project Owner) to most project resources.
• Write access to HTML, news utility, files utility, CVS, Issuezilla.
• Mailing list privileges the same.

Content Developer

• Contributes directly to project's web content (HTML).
• Gains write access to project's HTML, news utility with project Owner approval, files utility with project Owner approval, and Issuezilla.
• Mailing list privileges the same.

project Owner

• Defines the project's overall mission, direction, methodology, and community make-up.
• Gains administrative access to all project functions.
• Grants members requested permissions on project.
• Administers all project mailing lists and is default moderator on all lists.
• Administers Issuezilla.
• project Owner role supersedes any other roles you may hold on a project.

Creating a News Item

How it is done now:

• Creating Static HTML page usually news.html in www/ directory of the project
• Slightly heavyweight for sending out quick news items to project members

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: The news utility allows for lightweight news communication among project participants without having to write html; Users who are Members in the project will have current News items displayed for them on "My Start Page"

How to do it in SourceCast

• If Content Developer or Developer, user can "Suggest News Item" and the project Owner will approve or disapprove the item once they log on
• If project Owner, user can post news item themselves
• Click "Suggest a News Item" or "Add News Item" as role allows
• Choose the date associated with this news item
• Type in the "Headline" (sort of analogous to a Subject line on an email message)
• Type in the News item (can put in plain text or html markup as desired)
• Click "Add News Item" button
• If Content Developer or Developer, item will remain in the Pending Actions section of the project Owner's "My Start Page" until Owner takes action
• If project Owner, news item gets posted immediately to Members "My Start Page"

Posting Large files for Download

How it is done now:

• Commit them to CVS (which wastes space)
• or have Webmasters upload large file to the http://www.OpenOffice.org/downloads/ directory
• Users cannot upload to downloads directory themselves

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: File utility is included to allow the posting of large files for download without committing them to CVS; uploading files is a GUI front end;

How to do it in SourceCast

• If Content Developer or Developer, user can "Suggest A Download" and the project Owner will approve or disapprove the item once they log on
• If project Owner, user can post files immediately
• Click "Suggest a News Item" or "Add News Item" as role allows
• Hit "Browse" button and locate the file on your harddrive
• Enter a description
• If you wish this item to be public -- check the box -- in almost all cases for OpenOffice.org the file should be public, but if for instance you are uploading a draft of something you don't wish to be public right away it would be advantageous to keep it private
• Click "Upload File" button
• if Content Developer or Developer, item will remain in the Pending Actions section of the project Owner's "My Start Page" until Owner takes action
• If project Owner, news item gets posted immediately to File section of the project Resources

Posting Documentation for Download

How it is done now:

• posted in CVS (which wastes space)
• or uploaded to http://www.OpenOffice.org/downloads/ directory by webmasters
• project Members cannot upload to downloads directory themselves

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Documentation utility is included to allow the categorization and display of documents that does not need to be part of the main web content; uploading documentation for download without committing them to CVS; uploading files is a GUI front end;

How to do it in SourceCast

• If Content Developer or Developer, user can "Suggest A Document" or "Suggest A New Section" and the project Owner will approve or disapprove the item once they log on
• If project Owner, user can post documentation or categories immediately
• Click "Suggest A Document" or "Add A New Document" as role allows
• Enter description of the file and the file's location, URL or enter HTML
• Click "Add Document" button
• if Content Developer or Developer, item will remain in the Pending Actions section of the project Owner's "My Start Page" until Owner takes action
• If project Owner, news item gets posted immediately to File section of the project Resources

Creating An Issue in Issuezilla

How it is done now:

• Must have existing Username and password
• Enter a bug on a specific project
• Reporter notified via email each time bug changes

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Must have Developer, Content Developer or project Owner level access on a project to create issues

How to do it in SourceCast

Once a user becomes a member of a project, he or she is granted additional IssueZilla permissions beyond the default database query capabilities. Permissions can be viewed by clicking on the  My Preferences link on the project Issues page, or the Edit Prefs link in the Issue Tracking toolbar.

Issue tracking permissions depend upon project role: 

• Observers can create and modify issues, but can make changes to only their own issues. Observers have the ability to comment on any issue. 

• Developers (code or content) can report and modify their own and other project  issues. If they have been granted the "Can edit all aspects of any issue" permission, they have the ability to alter all issue characteristics, including milestones and issue assignments.

• project initiators automatically are granted administrative level IssueZilla  permissions with additional rights to configure issue tracking for the project. project initiators can also assign IssueZilla-specific permissions to other project members.

Subscribing to a mailing list

How it is done now:

• Send mail to: <mailinglist>-subscribe@openoffice.apache.org
• Information on how to do this provided on this page which is linked off of the main nav bar

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: None really; "Mailing Lists" link off of project Resources tool bar allows user to subscribe by hitting a button instead of sending email

How to do it in SourceCast

• You can subscribe or unsubscribe to mailing lists for a particular project by selecting "Mailing Lists" in the project Resources tool bar.
• The project Mail page includes subscribe/unsubscribe links for either a message-by-message or digest version of the list, as well as options to view each project list's archives.
• To begin the subscription process, click on the hyperlinked mailing list address to which you want to subscribe and send the message from your email client.
• You should receive a response asking for a confirmation. After you reply as indicated in the email, you will receive an email welcoming you and acknowledging your successful mailing list subscription.
• Follow the same process for unsubscribing, but substitute the unsubscribe link.

Browsing Archives

How it is done now:

• Browse Static HTML pages generated by Monharc
• Messages are in this static form which makes it harder to search for particular pieces of mail

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: archives are dynamically generated, better search facility

How to do it in SourceCast

• To view a mailing list's archives, select the Mailing List option in the project Resources tool bar to see a list of all mailing lists for that project.
• Click on the View Archive link next to the list you want to view.
• The default view for browsing mailing list archives is by date summary.
• Other summary views available are: by Author, by Subject, and by Thread.
• You can use the Search Archive link to add filters to your search criteria.
• You can enter a search text and choose to sort by Subject, Author, or Body by choosing one from the drop down box under the text box.
• You can also search text strings of the archived messages using simple Boolean operators.
• Note: project/component mailing list archiving is handled by EyeBrowse, an open source tool that stores and indexes list messages, providing multiple options for browsing, reading, and searching mailing list archives via a web browser. Beyond storing messages, EyeBrowse adds a database and text indexing engine to handle rapid message search and retrieval.

Administrative Tasks

Adding Members to your project

How it is done now:

• Administrator logs in to Administrative interface
• Chooses "List Users" from Menu
• Clicks on a specific user
• Puts check in "Read all CVS projects in domain"
• Puts check in "Change all CVS projects in domain"

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Two ways to add members: explicitly adding them or having user request to join the project and approving their membership and granting them privileges

How to do it in SourceCast

Explicitly adding new users:

• Log In as project Owner of a particular project
• Choose Members from the project Resources toolbar
• Click "Add A New Member" link
• Check the box next to the username of the user you would like to add to your project
• Choose the Role to assign the User/Users you have selected from the list
• Click "Grant Roles" button at the bottom of screen

Approving Members Role(s) in you project

• Log In as project Owner of a particular project
• at "My Start Page" look at the section labeled "Proposed Role in project <projectname>"
• Click the link
• At the next screen, look at the section labeled "Requests pending approval"
• Below that select the radio button that matches your action: approving role, disapprove or defer action
• Click Edit Roles

Note: The other option "Invite Members" is used purely to send out an invitational email to potential project members asking them to join your project

Changing mailing list configuration

How it is done now:

• Administrator logs into Admin interface
• Chooses "List Projects" from Menu
• Selects Project to change from List
• Chooses list to change
• Changes configuration options and click "Make Changes" button

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast:

How to do it in SourceCast

• Log In with project Owner status on a particular project
• Choose "Mailing Lists" from the project Resources toolbar
• Once there, scroll down to find the list you wish to change
• Click the link "Edit <listname> Mailing List"
• The options available are groupings of what was available in Tigris
• Most of the options here are self explanatory except for list type
• discuss is the most common mail list type, this give the list moderation for non-subscribers, while subscribers can post without moderation
• moderated means EACH post gets bounced to a moderator (good for low traffic announce lists)
• unmoderated means NO POSTS get sent to a moderator (there are no moderators)
• discuss-bounce-to-moderator is brand new -- as of June 27th, I do not know what the difference is here; email sent to developer about what this option means
• User can also click on the links at the bottom to add/delete/view Subscribers, Digest Subscribers, Moderators, Allowed Posters
• User can also Delete Mailing list at this point -- this link contains confirmation and care should be taken to be cognizant that all archives are destroyed once a mailing list is deleted.

Adding a mailing list

How it is done now:

• Administrator logs into Admin interface
• Chooses "List Projects" from Menu
• Selects Project to change from List
• Chooses list to change
• or Chooses "Add New Mailing List"
• Creates new mailing list with appropriate options and Clicks "Create List"

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Mail categories more grouped, mail list options aren't just scattered unintelligible checkboxes

How to do it in SourceCast

• Log In with project Owner status on a particular project
• Choose "Mailing Lists" from the project Resources toolbar
• Choose the "Add New Mail List" link
• Fill in List Name (list name will be the name before the @ symbol in the email address -- ie. dev@netbrowser.OpenOffice.org
• The options available are groupings of what was available in Tigris
• Most of the options here are self explanatory except for list type
• discuss is the most common mail list type, this give the list moderation for non-subscribers, while subscribers can post without moderation
• moderated means EACH post gets bounced to a moderator (good for low traffic announce lists)
• unmoderated means NO POSTS get sent to a moderator (there are no moderators)
• discuss-bounce-to-moderator is brand new -- as of June 27th, I do not know what the difference is here; email sent to developer about what this option means
• User can add users initially to the email address and thus keep them from having to sign up themselves
• Click button "Create Mailing List"

Approving a new project

How it is done now:

• Not done in Tigris. project must be created for user by admin and then given project owner status on the project

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Domain Admin will approve project before it is posted live on the site; Users can suggest projects themselves without the admins having to create the project for them

How to do it in SourceCast

• Log In with project Owner status on a particular project
• on "My Start Page" look at the "Pending Actions" section of the page
• Click on "Proposed Mailing List in project <name>"
• At the next screen, look at the section labeled "Requests pending approval"
• Below that select the radio button that matches your action: approving mailing list, disapprove mailing list or defer action

Creating a new project

How it is done now:

• Admin must login to Tigris
• Click "Edit projects"
• Click link "Add New project"
• and follow instructions from there

General Differences (if any) in SourceCast: Users can suggest projects themselves; do not have to rely on Administrator to create project for them

How to do it in SourceCast

• You must be a registered user and you must be logged in to start a project.
• Creating a new project on this site is fairly straightforward. You should, however, come to the task prepared, with a good sense of what you want and how you want to accomplish it. Knowing whom to invite onto your project won't hurt, either.
• Choose the Start a project link on "My Start Page"

Create New project Step 1

• The fields available on the "Start a project" page allow you to configure your project. Below, we have explained each of the fields and their function.

  project Name Enter what you wish to call your project. Choose a name that both describes the project and conforms to the naming conventions. That is, use the a-z, 0-9, and dash (but not as the first character); no spaces, underscoring, capitalization, or other punctuation. Keep in mind that the project name cannot be changed. An example of a name for a project dealing with porting a sophisticated chess game to the telephone might be "chessphone." Unimaginative, to be sure, but descriptive.

  Summary
  Enter a one-line description of your project, no longer than the field length. The description should be in plain text; HTML and formatted text are not supported. The description will be adjacent to the name of the project and be what registered users see first when they view the list of available projects. It should therefore be descriptive and concise. For instance, in the case of the chess game, you might write: "Porting an advanced chess game to the phone." Unlike the project name, you can edit this field at any time.

  Description
  This description makes up the bulk of your project's home page. It is where you can present the project in as interesting a light as possible. You can include HTML, formatted text, and so on, but keep in mind that most developers prefer simple and fast over complicated and slow (and confusing). State here your project's mission, background, methodology, tasks available, and other information that a developer might need to begin working on your project. This field can be edited at any time by clicking on the "Edit project" link once you have finished creating a project, but the information should remain consistent.

Create project Step 2

• License
  The current licenses will be available for OpenOffice.org.

  project Category
  Select the category appropriate for your project. Because projects are listed by category in both the Start Page and project Home pages, the choice of category is critical for giving developers a sense of the kind of work available. A developer who specializes in games, for example, will not necessarily want to view projects in the productivity category. As you can see, there are many possible options, and if you end up preferring another category, you can change your project category at any time. To edit this features of your project, click on "Edit project" once you have finished creating the project.

  project Profile
  The project Profile buttons are configured to automatically create mailing lists for your particular project. Perhaps you have a project idea that will require much discussion and input from other developers well before getting to the point of actual source code; this would be a "Discussion project." If your project, on the other hand, involves reworking existing source code, choose "Standard development project." Selecting a content project generates one general mailing list; you would not have access to the issue-tracking system because it would not be necessary. Selecting the standard project profile generates five mailing lists, and gives you access to all of the other resources of the site, including issue tracking. It is important to stress that no matter what profile you choose, you can change it later.

Create project Step 3

• People To Invite
  Invite as many people as you wish by listing their email addresses, one email address per line, or multiple addresses if each address is separated by a comma, colon, or semicolon. Automatically generated invitations to each invitee will be sent; you can use the field below to include a personal message, perhaps a brief explanation of your project's purpose, why you think he or she might find it worthwhile to join in, and a link providing direct access to your project home page.

  Recipients of your invitation who are already registered with this site log in to view your project home page. To join your project, they click the "Join This project" link.

  If the person you're inviting is not registered with this site, the email invitation asks her to register first to obtain a login and password by email. Then this person is able to log in and view your project home page.

  Invitation Message
  This message should be brief, but clear and informative. You can include hyperlinks, and any other information that you think would promote your project. Formatting and HTML are not, however, supported--the message, that is, stands on what it says not on how it looks. Hint: write out what you want to say beforehand. That way, you won't be lost for words. Finally, all the other project information is automatically generated, so you don't have to worry about including it again.

Project confirmation

• When you finish filling out all the fields and writing the messages, click Finish, which takes you to the confirmation page. From there, you can go to your newly created project home page.

  While your project's status is pending, you can do many things to enhance your project's appeal. You can:

  • Customize your project home page content
  • Add, configure, or delete mailing lists
  • Upload source files and documents
  • Invite additional participants

  In short, you can use most of the project functionality while waiting for project approval. Once your project is approved, you can accept member requests to begin building your project team.