[Soc-coordination] GSoC packages in NEW - fasttracking?

[Cameron Dale]

On 6/27/07, Stefano Zacchiroli <zack at debian.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2007 at 04:09:25PM +0200, Loïc Minier wrote:
> >  To clarify why I'm requesting this: I can imagine testers are a
> >  prerequisite to further progress on some aspects of the development; in
> >  order to get as many testers as possible, it's best to have the
> >  software readily installable from the Debian archive.  Sure, there are

My project (I'm a student) falls into this situation as well. Though
my packages aren't ready yet, I was also hoping there might be a way
to fast track this, as waiting 2-3 weeks before real testing can occur
is a large portion of the only 13 week SoC program. Though I could
certainly use the vacation time. :)

> Understood, but I fail to understand why students of GSoC should be
> prioritized over other sub-project we have in Debian, that probably had,
> have, or will have similar needs to what you describe.

I think the difference is the near-full-time work students are
devoting to their project, and the deadlines inherent in the SoC
program. I'm not aware of any other sub-project in a similar
situation, though there may well be. If there is, perhaps there should
be a general way to ask for NEW queue prioritization in these rare
circumstances.

> >  other solutions such as handing the git repo, or an APT archive on
> >  alioth, but it sounds like a time waste and might scare some people.
>
> Now, on the proposal side, what about setting up a GSoC-wide APT
> gettable repository?  I guess that would fulfill the need of many
> students, maybe the Google guys are willing to do that on
> code.google.com by themselves, after all other non Debian related
> projects will probably benefit from that too.  Otherwise we can set up
> summerofcode.debian.net or something ...

I don't think a separate repository will satisfy my needs (I have my
own, so setup time is not a problem). The key for getting a large
number of early testers is to have the package easily accessible to as
many people as possible. Being able to say "It's in unstable, just
apt-get update and install ..." has it's advantages.

Cameron