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  12 <title>What Needs Doing?</title>
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  17
  18 <h1 style="text-align: center;">What Needs Doing?</h1>
  19
  20 <p>There are a lot of different things you can do to help Subversion.
  21 Not all involve coding; there are plenty of non-programming roles for
  22 eager volunteers.</p>
  23
  24 <p>Below are some of the needs we've identified, but please don't take
  25 these as gospel!  New volunteers bring fresh viewpoints, and one of
  26 the most important things you can do is point out a need we hadn't
  27 recognized before&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;and then fill it.</p>
  28
  29 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
  30 <div class="h2" id="summer-of-code" title="summer-of-code">
  31 <h2>Google Summer of Code Tasks</h2>
  32
  33 <p>These are the ideas that the Subversion developers have for <a
  34 href="http://code.google.com/soc/">Google Summer of Code</a>
  35 applicants.  These are just some ideas&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;if you have
  36 other ideas, we're happy to consider them too, please just post them
  37 to <a
  38 href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>.</p>
  39
  40 <p>However, please don't select tasks in the other sections of this
  41 page as your Summer of Code proposal, as those are either not the
  42 right size for the Summer of Code, or are not coding tasks and
  43 therefore not eligible.</p>
  44
  45 <p>You should also read the <a href="hacking.html">Hacker's Guide to
  46 Subversion</a> before starting out on a proposal. Don't hesitate to
  47 ask for details or start discussing one of these tasks on the <a
  48 href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>
  49 mailing list (see <a
  50 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList"
  51 >here</a> for subscription information).</p>
  52
  53 <p>In fact, please discuss your task on the mailing list regardless of
  54 whether you've submitted your application yet.  Eagerness to engage
  55 with the rest of the Subversion development community will be
  56 considered favourable in evaluating your application.</p>
  57
  58 <p>If you have questions about the application process, compensation,
  59 or the Google Summer of Code program in general, please see the
  60 program <a
  61 href="http://code.google.com/opensource/gsoc/2008/faqs.html">FAQ</a>
  62 </p>
  63
  64 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
  65 <div class="h3" id="sparse-dirs-deselect" title="sparse-dirs-deselect">
  66 <h3>Deselection interface for sparse directories.</h3>
  67
  68 <p>See <a
  69 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2843"
  70 >issue&nbsp;#2843</a>.</p>
  71
  72 <p>Although we now support <a
  73 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/notes/sparse-directories.txt"
  74 >sparse checkouts</a>, we do not yet have any way to remove subtrees
  75 from a working copy once they have been brought in.  This task
  76 involves coming up with an interface specification first (via list
  77 discussion), and then implementing it.</p>
  78
  79 </div> <!-- spars-dirs-deselect -->
  80
  81 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
  82 <div class="h3" id="externals-commit" title="externals-commit">
  83 <h3>Make commit descend into svn:externals directories.</h3>
  84
  85 <p>See <a
  86 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1167"
  87 >issue&nbsp;#1167</a>.</p>
  88
  89 <p>See also <a
  90 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2325" >issue
  91 2325</a> (svn cleanup should follow svn:external references).</p>
  92
  93 </div>  <!-- externals-commit -->
  94
  95 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
  96 <div class="h3" id="dav-interop" title="dav-interop">
  97 <h3>Better DAV interoperability.</h3>
  98
  99 <p>Over DAV (http://), Subversion should map the svn:executable and
 100 svn:mime-type to the DAV-standard props, for better interoperability
 101 with existing DAV clients.</p>
 102
 103 <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1345"
 104 >issue&nbsp;#1345</a>.</p>
 105
 106 </div>  <!-- dav-interop -->
 107
 108 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 109 <div class="h3" id="progress-output" title="progress-output">
 110 <h3>Show progress output.</h3>
 111
 112 <p>Improve the progress output displayed during update and commit.</p>
 113
 114 <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1264"
 115 >Issue&nbsp;#1264</a> and <a
 116 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=901"
 117 >issue&nbsp;#901</a>.</p>
 118
 119 </div>  <!-- progress-output -->
 120
 121
 122 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 123 <div class="h3" id="customizable-diff" title="customizable-diff">
 124 <h3>More customizable behavior for diff.</h3>
 125
 126 <p>Fully customizable external diff invocations, and support for
 127 external diff commands for non-text types.</p>
 128
 129 <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2044"
 130 >Issue&nbsp;#2044</a> and <a
 131 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2447"
 132 >issue&nbsp;#2447</a>.</p>
 133
 134 </div>  <!-- customizable-diff -->
 135
 136
 137 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 138 <div class="h3" id="authz-improvements" title="authz-improvements">
 139 <h3>Authz improvements</h3>
 140
 141 <p>Note: Summer of Code may require two or more depending on
 142 complexity.</p>
 143
 144 <ul>
 145 <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2445"
 146     >2445</a>: Allow users to change passwords.</p></li>
 147
 148 <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2958"
 149     >2958</a>/<a
 150     href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2662"
 151     >2662</a>: Authz path wildcards; these are probably duplicate
 152     issues, and the latter one has a patch already, though it may be
 153     out-of-date now.</p></li>
 154
 155 <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2338"
 156     >2338</a> mod_authz_svn should be able to use httpd's groups
 157     config.</p></li>
 158
 159 <li><p><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2143"
 160     >2143</a> Additional authz action controls (e.g., add/remove
 161     files).</p></li>
 162
 163 </ul>
 164
 165 </div>  <!-- authz-improvements -->
 166
 167
 168 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 169 <div class="h3" id="interactive-merge-source-selection"
 170              title="interactive-merge-source-selection">
 171 <h3>Interactive merge source selection</h3>
 172
 173 <p>See <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=3065"
 174 >issue&nbsp;#3065</a>.</p>
 175
 176 </div>  <!-- interactive-merge-source-selection -->
 177
 178
 179 <!-- These are some other ones I considered for SoC 2008, but decided
 180      (for now) to leave off the list.  Feel free to publish them if
 181      you think they're appropriate.
 182
 183      1233 mime-type guessing improved for Unix systems
 184      2286 shared storage for identical files
 185      2194 Support Unicode encodings other than UTF8 as plain text
 186      783  Construct a notification system for properties [iffy...]
 187 -->
 188
 189 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 190 <div class="h3" id="svn-commit" title="svn-commit">
 191 <h3>Allow Commit from multiple working copies</h3>
 192
 193 <p>Currently, 'svn commit' cannot commit changes that are located in
 194 two or more disconnected working copies (lacking a common parent),
 195 even if those working copies belong to the same repository.  This is
 196 a fairly common need for users that work on multiple projects that
 197 are all stored in the same repository and need to commit the changes
 198 for multiple projects in a single atomic commit transaction.</p>
 199
 200 <p>There are several issues in the issue tracker that describe the
 201 problem in more detail (see <a
 202 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2381">issue
 203 #2381</a>).</p>
 204
 205 </div>
 206
 207
 208 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 209 <div class="h3" id="svnserve-logging" title="svnserve-logging">
 210 <h3>Operation and error logging for svnserve (<a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2409"
 211 >issue&nbsp;#2409</a>):</h3>
 212
 213 <p>Subversion 1.3.0 added support for operational logging in
 214 mod_dav_svn.  That is, logging what actual client-side operations are
 215 performed on a repository, rather than just logging the endless flow
 216 of WebDAV requests.  Support for this kind of logging, as well as
 217 error logging, needs to be added to the standalone svnserve daemon.
 218 This requires some work in the APR library, which would provide the
 219 actual logging facility.</p>
 220
 221 <p>This has been extensively discussed on the Subversion development
 222 mailing list in the past.  A good first step would be to review the
 223 previous proposals.</p>
 224
 225 <p><em>This task may have been started at <a
 226 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnserve-logging"
 227 >http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnserve-logging</a>.</em></p>
 228 </div>
 229
 230 <!-- ************************************************************* -->
 231 <div class="h3" id="svn-augmented-diff" title="svn-augmented-diff">
 232 <h3>An augmented diff representation</h3>
 233
 234 <p>Currently, 'svn diff' outputs a patch in the so-called "Unified
 235 diff" format.  The problem is, this format is fairly old, and as such
 236 can represent only textual differences between files.  It does not
 237 represent structural changes to the directory tree, nor can it
 238 encompass changes to various metadata, the kind used extremely
 239 frequently by Subversion.</p>
 240
 241 <p>'svn diff' actually has two or three use cases.  The first is to
 242 produce a human-reviewable description of a change suitable for code
 243 review.  The second (and maybe third) are to produce a file that can
 244 be sent by email or stored somewhere for later application, by patch(1)
 245 (the second use case) or some other more-capable patch tool (the third
 246 use case).  Of these, 'svn diff' currently only supports the first case.
 247 For example, copied files are currently shown as differences against the
 248 original version of the file, which makes review easier, though isn't
 249 suitable for applying with patch.</p>
 250
 251 <p>This task is: First, to propose a solution for serialising a complete
 252 representation of a change.  Then, implement that solution with a new
 253 switch to 'svn diff' and a new subcommand ('svn patch'?) that would
 254 apply a previously created serialised patch.</p>
 255
 256 <p>Things to consider in your design of the serialisation format:</p>
 257 <ul>
 258 <li>Whether it represents content diffs in a human-readable format
 259 (probably using the unified diff format), Subversion's native binary
 260 delta format, or some other format.  Considerations include non-precise
 261 (fuzzy) patching and representing changes to binary files.</li>
 262 <li>Whether it should be compatible (to some degree) with patch(1)
 263 (by encoding extra information in a "garbage" chunk of data that patch
 264 will ignore, similar to the way property changes are reported today).</li>
 265 <li>How renames (when eventually implemented as a primitive operation)
 266 should be represented.</li>
 267 </ul>
 268
 269 <p>Note that <a href="http://svk.elixus.org">SVK</a> posesses such a
 270 rich unified diff format.  It may or may not be desirable to reuse the
 271 same kind of representation; that decision is part of the task!</p>
 272
 273 <p><em>This task may have been started at <a
 274 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnpatch-diff"
 275 >http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/branches/svnpatch-diff</a>.</em></p>
 276
 277 </div>
 278
 279
 280 </div>
 281
 282 <!-- ============================================================= -->
 283 <div class="h2" id="information-management" title="information-management">
 284 <h2>Information Management Tasks</h2>
 285
 286 <p>These are non-coding tasks, so they are <b>NOT</b> eligible for
 287 <a href="http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html">Google Summer of Code</a>.
 288 If you have come here from the Summer of Code pages, skip this section of the
 289 page.</p>
 290
 291 <div class="h3" id="issue-management" title="issue-management">
 292 <h3>Issue Management</h3>
 293
 294 <p>Do we need an Issue Manager?  Maybe...</p>
 295
 296 <p>The Subversion <a
 297 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/project_issues.html">bug
 298 database</a> has been managed in a rather ad hoc fashion thus far.
 299 Periodically we make sweeps over all outstanding issues and try to
 300 prioritize them, organize them into scheduled milestones, note
 301 dependencies between issues, etc.  These methods have been moderately
 302 successful up till now, but they are not scaling well as the number of
 303 issues grows.  Since issue growth is proportional to user base growth,
 304 the issue tracker is becoming a victim of Subversion's success.  We
 305 need to find new ways of managing our issues, ways that do not involve
 306 making O(N) sweeps over the entire list of open issues at regular
 307 intervals.</p>
 308
 309 <p>While we have some semi-formalized management roles (patch manager,
 310 release manager, etc), we have never had an issue manager.  It might
 311 be time to get one, though.  It's not yet clear whether the problem is
 312 mainly one of attention, or of algorithm, or both, but having someone
 313 dedicated to managing the issues database couldn't hurt.  One thing
 314 such a person could do would be to go through the list of outstanding
 315 issues, figure out which ones are likely to be <a
 316 href="#bite-sized">bite-sized tasks</a>, and mark them as such, so
 317 that other volunteers have an easier time choosing things to work on.
 318 We've already marked various issues as bite-sized, but we haven't done
 319 so consistently as new issues come in.  This means there are a lot of
 320 potential entry points to the project going unnoticed.  Want to help
 321 us solve that?</p>
 322
 323 <p>Creative ideas welcome!  If you'd like to help with this, please <a
 324 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList"
 325 >subscribe</a> to the <a
 326 href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>
 327 mailing list and post your thoughts.</p>
 328
 329 </div>
 330
 331 <div class="h3" id="faq-management" title="faq-management">
 332 <h3>FAQ Management</h3>
 333
 334 <p>We need a FAQ manager.  A FAQ manager is someone who stays
 335 subscribed to the <a
 336 href="mailto:users@subversion.tigris.org">users@subversion.tigris.org</a>
 337 and <a href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org"
 338 >dev@subversion.tigris.org</a> mailing lists, watches for common
 339 questions or addenda to existing questions, and slowly adjusts the
 340 Subversion <a href="faq.html">FAQ</a> in response to the problems
 341 users are having "in the wild".  This is also a great way to get
 342 familiar with Subversion usage patterns and common problems.  If you
 343 use or administrate Subversion anyway, helping to manage the FAQ is a
 344 great way to expand your troubleshooting skills.</p>
 345
 346 <p>Again, creative ideas are most welcome.  Please post to the <a
 347 href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>
 348 mailing list if you're interested in this.</p>
 349
 350 </div>
 351
 352 </div>
 353
 354 <!-- ============================================================= -->
 355 <div class="h2" id="bite-sized" title="bite-sized">
 356 <h2>Bite-Sized Coding Tasks</h2>
 357
 358 <p>The Subversion bug database contains many issues classified as
 359 "bite-sized" tasks&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp;tasks that are well-defined and
 360 self-contained, and thus suitable for a volunteer looking to get
 361 involved with the project.  You <i>don't</i> need broad or detailed
 362 knowledge of Subversion's design to take on one of these, just a
 363 pretty good idea of how things generally work, and familiarity with
 364 the coding guidelines in the
 365 <a href="hacking.html">Hacker's Guide to Subversion</a>.  Many tasks
 366 are things a volunteer could pick off in a spare week or two, and
 367 they're a great way to start learning your way around the Subversion
 368 code.</p>
 369
 370 <p> If you start one of these tasks, please notify the other
 371 developers by marking the issue as "STARTED" in the issue tracker,
 372 then mail <a
 373 href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>
 374 (<a
 375 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList"
 376 >subscribe</a> to that list too) with questions.  Don't be shy, it's a
 377 very civil mailing list.</p>
 378
 379 <p>When you're ready to send in a patch, see the <a
 380 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/mailing-list-guidelines.html#patches"
 381 >patch posting guidelines</a>.  Don't be discouraged if your patch
 382 goes through several iterations of review by other developers; this is
 383 normal.</p>
 384
 385 <p>Here is the <a
 386 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/buglist.cgi?component=subversion&amp;issue_status=UNCONFIRMED&amp;issue_status=NEW&amp;issue_status=STARTED&amp;issue_status=REOPENED&amp;keywords=bite-sized&amp;cmdtype=doit"
 387 >list of all bite-sized tasks</a>.</p>
 388
 389 </div>
 390
 391 <!-- ============================================================= -->
 392 <div class="h2" id="larger-tasks" title="larger-tasks">
 393 <h2>Larger (But Not Necessarily Huge) Coding Tasks</h2>
 394
 395 <p>The tasks listed below are bigger than bite-sized, but probably
 396 don't require new research to solve.  In other words, most of them are
 397 a <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/S/SMOP.html">Simple
 398 Matter Of Programming</a>.  You'd need to either be, or be willing to
 399 become, familiar with Subversion's internals to solve one of
 400 these.</p>
 401
 402 <p>As with the <a href="#bite-sized">bite-sized tasks</a>, please read
 403 the
 404 <a href="hacking.html">Hacker's Guide to Subversion</a> and don't
 405 hesitate to ask questions on the
 406 <a href="mailto:users@subversion.tigris.org">users@subversion.tigris.org</a>
 407 and
 408 <a href="mailto:dev@subversion.tigris.org">dev@subversion.tigris.org</a>
 409 mailing lists (see <a
 410 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList"
 411 >here</a> for subscription information).  Before posting any patches,
 412 see the <a
 413 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/mailing-list-guidelines.html#patches"
 414 >patch posting guidelines</a>.</p>
 415
 416 <p>For <a href="project_status.html#upcoming">groups of tasks tied to
 417 specific releases</a>, peruse the <a href="project_status.html">status
 418 page</a>.  For a longer-term view of Subversion's vision, see the <a
 419 href="roadmap.html">road map</a>.</p>
 420
 421 <div class="h3" id="error-messages" title="error-messages">
 422 <h3><a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1254"
 423 >issue&nbsp;#1254</a>, etc: Improve error messages</h3>
 424
 425 <p>Too many of Subversion's error messages are terse or confusing.
 426 Many instances are recorded in
 427 <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1254"
 428 >issue&nbsp;#1254</a>, but see also issues
 429 <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2302"
 430 >#2302</a>,
 431 <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2295"
 432 >#2295</a>, and
 433 <a href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=2275"
 434 >#2275</a>.</p>
 435
 436 </div>
 437
 438 </div>
 439
 440 <!-- ============================================================= -->
 441 <div class="h2" id="bindings" title="bindings">
 442 <h2>Improved Bindings to Other Languages</h2>
 443
 444 <p>One of Subversion's strengths is that it offers a rich set of
 445 "binding surfaces": well-documented APIs that are available not only
 446 in C (Subversion's native language) but in other programming languages
 447 as well (see the <a
 448  href="links.html#lang_bindings">complete list</a>).</p>
 449
 450 <p>Some of these language bindings are maintained via <a
 451 href="http://www.swig.org/">SWIG</a>, a tool that partially automates
 452 the process of generating bindings, while others are maintained by
 453 hand.  Many of the bindings do not have complete coverage yet, or have
 454 interface problems where they do have coverage.  So even though
 455 they're used in many production systems, there's still plenty of work
 456 to do.  Specifically:</p>
 457
 458 <ul>
 459
 460 <li><p>The <a
 461 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/swig/python/"
 462 >SWIG/Python bindings</a> are in pretty good shape, but their coverage
 463 is not yet complete.  Help is welcome.</p></li>
 464
 465 <li><p>Our <a
 466 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/java/javahl/"
 467 >Java</a>, <a
 468 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/swig/perl/"
 469 >SWIG/Perl</a>, and <a
 470 href="http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/bindings/swig/ruby/"
 471 >SWIG/Ruby</a> bindings are in pretty good shape, but maybe there are
 472 other languages you'd like to call Subversion APIs from?  Lisp/Scheme?
 473 Feel free to start a new bindings project, if you don't see what you
 474 need here.</p></li>
 475
 476 </ul>
 477
 478 </div>
 479
 480 <!-- ============================================================= -->
 481 <div class="h2" id="all-issues" title="all-issues">
 482 <h2>All Open Issues</h2>
 483
 484 <p>You want to see the complete list of open bugs, in all its glory?
 485 Don't say we didn't <a
 486 href="http://subversion.tigris.org/issues/buglist.cgi?component=subversion&amp;issue_status=UNCONFIRMED&amp;issue_status=NEW&amp;issue_status=STARTED&amp;issue_status=REOPENED&amp;order=issues.target_milestone%2C%20issues.priority%2C%20issues.issue_type">warn you...</a></p>
 487
 488 </div>
 489
 490 </div>
 491 </body>
 492 </html>