Here's the raw text of my application. The deadline is in about 11 hours, but I'll try to take into account any feedback. Thanks, -Paul
Your name Paul Raccuglia Your email address pracc...@haverford.edu pra...@gmail.com The name of the project Guile – Implementing a user-friendly package manager and repository Summary Guile lacks a centralized, easy-to-use system for installing packages. In the vein of apt-get and CPAN, this project will simplify the process of distributing and acquiring packages in Guile. There exist a number of code bases that could be very useful for this implementation (notably including http://nixos.org/nix/ and http://home.gna.org/dorodango/ ). I will implement an online repository and a local client to acquire, install, update and manage packages and their dependencies. Benefits This project will benefit users of Guile by making it easy for them to incorporate packages into their software. This is a vital feature of a number of widely adopted projects, notably PERL, PHP and Python (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_software_package_management_systems#Application-level_package_managers). A robust, easy-to-use package manager and repository would help Guile achieve wider adoption: ideally, easy-to-install packages would attract a wider audience, and a good distribution mechanism will help developer’s packages gain wider adoption. Deliverables There will be some alterations to existing Guile code, but most of this project’s code will be new features. The project will rely on a set of fundamental sections of code: client code that acquires and verifies the package and any dependencies (or updates to installed packages); code that manages the packages locally (installing and uninstalling, storing, unpacking); and code that merges upgrades into installed packages intelligently. The client code will likely draw from other projects. In addition to the fundamental parts of the project, a web based repository browser will be needed. The project will establish a set of conventions for how this repository functions, and provide an implementation of a repository browser. Once the core functionality of this project is in place, it should be structured so that adding features is relatively painless. My goal is for the code to be easy to improve and maintain in a way that does not depend on my involvement. Additionally, this project will need to establish an easy-to-use but robust set of conventions for packages, which will require clear documentation. Packages should be acquirable from an official repository, but unofficial sources should be allowable if the user so chooses. Plan Proposal Timeline: Before April 25: -Begin to work with the guile-devel mailing-list and irc to establish the project's design and conventions -Do self coding with Guile to explore it more fully -Discuss the project with friends and professors in addition to the feedback I get from the guile community April 25 - May 23: (before coding begins) -Work to finalize the working design and conventions of the project with my mentor, based on my conversations with the Guile community -Continuing to work with the mailing list and irc throughout this period -Review other projects that have tackled similar problems, make decisions with the help of my mentor and the Guile community on what to incorporate into the project -Revise this plan as needed based on feedback, have a finalized timeline prepared by May 23 May 24 - June 7: (Step 1: basic functionality) -Write a client interface to Dorodango that handles acquiring packages -Work on the basic manager to install / uninstall acquired packages -Finalize preliminary design documents related to the structure of a repository -Send a progress report / summary to the guile-devel mailing list once this stage is finalized -Acquire feedback from the community June 8 - 22: (Step 2: distribution) -Begin work on implementation of a repository *Implement a website that handles a browsable list of available packages and provides details, dependencies, links, etc. *Write rudimentary administrator interface to add/edit packages *Handle communication of the client with the repository to identify the appropriate package's location -Continue work on client to interface with the repository to find packages -Send a progress report / summary to the guile-devel mailing list once this stage is finalized -Acquire feedback from the community June 23 - July 3: (Step 3: flesh out functionality) -Flesh out the functionality of the client and the package manager to include dependencies, handle updating, and sketch other essential features. Have a list of essential features to be implemented after the midterm evaluation -Handle issues that have cropped up in the interim -Code should be functional by the end of this period July 4 - July 14: (Step 4: Clean-up for review) -Clean up code, write documentation, fix any outstanding issues, and complete evaluation -Send a progress report to the guile-devel mailing list July 15 - 17: -Take a break, compile a list of issues, and write a revised plan for the rest of the summer July 18 - August 1: (Step 5: Finish functionality) -Work on the client and manager, have all essential features working -Work on the web client for the repository August 2 - 8: (Step 6: Make sure it is accessible to other developers) -Modify the client and manager code to facilitate adding nonessential features easily Aug 9 - 16: (Step 7: Finish up) -Resolve outstanding flaws August 16 - 22: (Step 8: Clean up) -Test things, write documentation, clean up the code September onwards: -Continue to help maintain and support the results of the project Communication Communication depends on the time zone of my mentor. Email, IRC, and phone conversations would be the main channels of communication. Additionally, I will use git to upload my progress to a personal (publicly-viewable) repository preferably on a daily basis and at minimum a weekly basis. I will upload progress to github.com or gitorious.org to facilitate inline conversations about the code. I would like to note that I know Noah Lavine, a contributor to Guile. If I ended up working with him in some fashion, I would be able to communicate easily with him because he is in the same time zone, and I am comfortable working with him. Qualification I am a CS/Math student at Haverford College, in Pennsylvania. I have been coding on my own for about 10 years now. My older brother is an experienced developer who gave me a lot of guidance as I was learning to code. This project appeals to me because it is a vital feature that Guile lacks, a feature which will be important in Guile’s wider adoption. I think Guile is very exciting, and hope that easing the barrier to installing packages will help it grow. This project also appealed to me compared to other projects I looked at because it is made up of a set of relatively distinct, quantifiable parts, which gives me confidence that it was a problem I could tackle. I am suited to this in part because I have a pretty good understanding of the general issues at hand, am a quick learner, because I am comfortable working in C or Scheme, and because I have been coding and learning and reading for long enough (approximately 10 years) in enough languages (Python, PHP, C, C#, plus some work with Scheme and Perl) to be acquainted with principals and processes of software design. Plus, my older brother is an experienced developer who continues to give me a lot of guidance in both general best practices and giving me specific feedback on my code. I already have a lot of the fundamental programming skills. The most important things for me to improve will be to thoroughly familiarize myself with the problem (over the course of the summer) and to develop a strong relationship with the Guile community. Once the project is “finished”, I hope to be able to steward and help others to expand it. Ideally, the project will be easy to help maintain and expand, so that I can focus my efforts on a different issue (I am interested in working on a JIT compiler for Guile). I have not worked on any serious Free Software projects before, only used them; I am excited to start giving back to a project.
