A few weeks ago, Doug proposed a "Boost Bug Sprint", modeled on the Debian one; to clean up the backlog of bugs, patches and feature request that have grown in the Trac system. We currently have about 800 open issues. I am proposing that we start on Friday, May 29th and finish on Sunday, June 7th. That gives us a work week and two weekends, making time for both people who can work during the week, and those who only have time to contribute to boost on the weekends. I am putting this out for comments: --- Proposal ---

What can you do?

1) You can fix bugs. * If you are a library author, you can commit changes. * If you are not a library author, you can fix a problem on your local machine (and test it!!), and then attach your fix as a patch to the Trac ticket for the library author to commit. If you do this, please provide a test case that exercises the problem; i.e, one that fails w/o your patch, and succeeds afterwards.

2) You can characterize bugs. * You can attempt to replicate the bug on your system(s), and attach information that you discover to the Trac ticket. This will make it easier for other people to solve the problem, even if you cannot. * You can write test cases demonstrating the problem, and attach them to the Trac ticket. * You can determine if the bug still exists; sometimes they get fixed, and the ticket never gets closed.

3) You can test patches. * Some of the tickets in the trac system contain patches - some are quite old. You can install these patches on your system, and determine if they (a) build, and (b) work. * You can write test cases for the patches, and attach them to the ticket.

4) You can help implement new features. * There are a whole set of "feature requests" in the Trac system. If you have an idea about one of these, you can add comments to the trac system. You can attempt to implement these new features, and attach the patch to the ticket. (Don't forget the test cases!!).

--- End Proposal --- Please let me know what you think, and I will post an updated version. -- -- Marshall Marshall Clow Idio Software <mailto:marshall@idio.com> It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of Java that thoughts acquire speed, the hands acquire shaking, the shaking becomes a warning. It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion.