Re: [stellation-res] Volunteer

[Dave Shields <shields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Dec 17, 2002 at 10:48:03PM -0500, Jeffrey Howard wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> > Eventually, we'll probably want to either do a similar install
> > under Linux, or put together an RPM. But that can wait until either
> > we have time, or we have volunteers...
> > 
> > 	-Mark
> 
> Volunteers, eh?  Well, I guess that's as good a prompt as any to
> introduce myself.  I've been lurking on the mailing list for a few
> days and the newsgroup somewhat longer, eagerly awaiting an alpha
> release of Stellation.  At my day job, we're using Eclipse and the JDT
> to develop a product that will be an Eclipse plugin, so Stellation for
> CM seemed a natural fit.  As the days have passed, I've grown less and
> less enchanted with our existing CM system and more interested in the
> features planned for Stellation.
> 
> By background, I'm a software engineer.  We're a very small product
> team at work, so I have a bit of experience in just about everything:
> requirements, analysis/architecture, design, coding of course,
> testing, documentation (both API docs and end user documentation), and
> packaging for deployment.  I'm quite familiar with both Java and SQL.
> 
> The mention of RPMs caught my eye because we use linux (Redhat's
> distribution) as our development platform of choice.  If it would be
> of help, I could start reading up on packaging RPMs with an eye toward
> creating RPMs for Stellation.  That said, if there's somewhere else on
> the project where I could be of greater or more immediate benefit, say
> the word.  Assuming I can be of use, where should I concentrate my
> efforts in coming up to speed?

Jeffrey,

Since we hope to put out an alpha-release soon, I would suggest becoming a
trial user now. For example, though I have tried to bring the core documentation 
files up to date, I'm sure there are errors and omissions, and it's hard 
as an author to see what's missing and wrong. I'd suggest picking a part 
of the system that interests you, then try to get it up and running, 
and note any problems you run across. Whether to use command-line, Eclipse, 
Windows, Linux, PostgreSQL, Firebird, just pick the combination that interests you.

Another possibility to pick which part to try out, or perhaps to give more focus to
your work, is to characterize just what you mean by 

      > As the days have passed, I've grown less and
      > less enchanted with our existing CM system and more interested in the
      > features planned for Stellation.

and then compare what that CM lacks with what we offer, and see if we are better.
If we are not better, is it because of missing features, poor documentation, bugs, or
whatever? (Speaking as a native of New Mexico, our goal is to also make Stellation 
a "Land of Enchantment"!)

thanks,
dave

-- 
Dave Shields, IBM Research, shields@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.