Public SourceMage Discussion List

[David Kowis <dkowis AT shlrm.org>]

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Ok, speech :)

I got started on the Cauldron(ISO) team several months ago. I wanted the
installer for one of the best distros around to be one of the best
installers around. I really didn't know what I was getting in to.
Unfortunately, my bash skills aren't as good as some of our l33t sorcery
hackers. I was in over my head, but did come up with a good plan to make
the installer script more manageable. With assistance from other members
of the Cauldron team, I was able to implement my plan, even if I didn't
get it all done myself. It's still being worked on, btw :)

Unfortunately in the past months (at least since I got involved) the
Cauldron team has suffered from a lack of direction. I intend to provide
that direction. I'm not saying that what I say goes no matter what, but
rather that decisions will be made. Plans will be constructed. Goals
will be set. I've got nothing against Unet, I can completely understand
how Real-Life(c) gets in the way of a volunteer activity. That's one of
the reasons that the installer didn't get along as quickly as I would
have liked.

The Installer is a new user's first experience with Source Mage. (Well
technically it's the INITRD, but work with me here ;) ) You can only
make one first impression. I want it to be the best possible impression
that can be made. I'm not saying that it's got to be all graphical and
flashy and pretty, but rather that it works, it works well, and it works
completely. New users aren't accustomed to the "minor" glitches and
snags that exist in the ISO/installer.  Installation should be flawless
and simple.

On the other hand, I don't want to remove the capability of our more
advanced users to be able to do what they want during the install
process. For example: If you've got a fancy program on a floppy disk
that sets up your drives for you, you should be able to use it. I want
flexibility to exist in the ISO/install process as well.

Also, I will (with the help of the rest of the ISO team, and other more
experienced project/team leads) come up with a release plan/cycle for
our ISOs. "Release early, release often," has been suggested to me, and
I'm fine with doing that, as long as our ISOs are up to snuff. I will
also want to work closely with the newly formed QA team to ensure just
that. A well defined list of requirements for the ISO/Installer system
will be formed and prioritized.

As Team Lead I will fulfill all the obligations listed in the wiki
(http://wiki.sourcemage.org/index.php?page=Team+Lead+Duties) (at least
for ISO Lead anyway ;) ) and remain accessible (at the very least
through email) to the rest of the team members. I subscribe to
SM-Discuss and, if so desired, I'll subscribe to any other mailing lists
deemed necessary by the other members of the Source Mage community. I
will make every effort to attend the meetings on #sourcemage-admin.
(Most recently I had to use my girlfriend's dialup and Trillian's IRC
client to attend :) ) As school picks up again in June, my visibility
will decline somewhat, however I will not let it decay to the point of
harming Source Mage or the ISO process.

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