[FSUG-Bangalore] Hackathon announcement and Call for Participation

[S h i v]

Dear FSUG members,

Bangalore OpenSolaris User Group (BOSUG) is an active OpenSolaris user
group that has been around since ~2years
(http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/bosug).

BOSUG is organizing a Hackathon and this is a call for participation
for the same.

Here is an excellent oppurtunity to share/contribute/learn. If you are
interested in contributing to FOSS we would like to hear from you.

The announcement is also available at
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/project/bosug/events
Any updates will be available here.

Belenix(http://www.genunix.org/distributions/belenix_site) is an
OpenSolaris based distro that some of you who participated in foss.in
during 2005 and 2006 and took time to visit the OpenSolaris demos
might recall. This community distro has come out of Bangalore and is
one of most active OpenSolaris based distros.
The hackathon has been decided based on likely future roadmap of
Belenix (read the "Hackathon Background Information" at the end) and
what we believe is the way OpenSolaris in general is likely to evolve.

Note: Confirmations to be sent to me
by 2-Aug for those wish to attend the tutorial and
by 5-Aug for those who do not need the tutorial to take part in the hackathon.

best regards
Shiv

Hackathon (4-Aug & 11-Aug, 2007)
====================================
Scope : Creating OpenSolaris packages from pristine sources for a huge
set of softwares

Tutorial session for the Hackathon (4-Aug 2007)
------------------------------------------------
(Optional for people already familiar with Solaris packaging, pkgbuild)
Date       : 4-Aug 2007
Duration   : 6:00pm – 8:00pm (GMT+530)
Scope      : Packaging howto using pkgbuild/pkgtool/rmp spec files.
            Some required details about SVR4 packages & GNU auto tools
Venue      : Divyashree chambers, Bangalore, INDIA
A simple tutorial document will be provided for people participating
from outside Bangalore (2 people have already expressed interest
during the initial planning stage of this event)

Those who are interested to attend the tutorial but unable to
participate in the hackathon may contact me offline.

The Hackathon (11-Aug 2007)
----------------------------
Date       : 11-Aug 2007
Duration   : 10am – 4:30pm (GMT+530)
Scope      : Creating OpenSolaris packages from pristine sources for a
huge set of softwares(see details below)
Venue      : Divyashree chambers, Bangalore, INDIA

People outside Bangalore need to have a good net connection and come
online. Details will be provided later.
Deadline for participation confirmation:

Send your confirmations to shivakumar dot gn at gmail dot com

* Those who need the tutorial to be able to participate should confirm
their participation by 2-Aug
* Those who are already familiar with Solaris packaging,pkgbuild & GNU
autotools may confirm their participation by 5-Aug

The number of participants that we can accomodate is limited by the
infrastructure that can be provided. Hence earlier you confirm the
better are your chances of getting the opportunity to participate !

People who have good net facility and are located outside Bangalore
can also participate.

Participation Requirements
===========================
Enthusiasm to share/contribute/learn/teach is the primary requirement!

Additionally one or more of these skills is expected
   * A good familiarity with Solaris or Linux shell environment
   * Shell scripting
   * Authoring/debugging Makefiles
   * GNU Autotools
   * Authoring of rpm spec files (creating rpm packages)

(Note that those who will be attending the tutorial session will
satisfy most of the requirements)

Infrastructure
================
Participants are expected to bring their own laptops

A small set of systems to accomodate ~6 people will also be available
for those who are unable to arrange for a system of their own The
source code for a huge set softwares will be available on a LAN

For people who get their own systems but donot have Solaris Express
installed on their systems,

   * VMware image of Solaris Express will be available that can be
used on their systems for the event. In this case a minimum of 1GB RAM
is recommended for the laptop.
   * A server will be available to offload their laptop contents to
make for disk space on their systems (if necessary)


** Lunch will be arranged at the venue **

Hackathon Background Information
==================================
Belenix is one of very active OpenSolaris distro around. It is nearing
2 years of existence. It currently does not have packaging support.
This is intended to be included in one of the future releases.

Once packaging support is available the huge bunch of softwares need
to be made available in the form of SVR4 packages. The SFE (rpm spec
file like) based approach is well suited for this.

The number of build/package recipes currently available for
OpenSolaris is limited (~250).

These 2 were the triggers to organise a hackthon that can deliver
multiple benefits:

   * Provides an opportunity for people desirous of contributing to
FOSS projects
   * OpenSolaris distros get build/packaging recipes in the form of
rpm like spec files
   * Many people become familiar with OpenSolaris development
platform and will be in a position to contribute
   * Authors of FOSS softwares for Linux/Windows will be able to
recognize some of the areas to consider to make their softwares build
across multiple platforms

The current list of softwares in Belenix will be the starting point to
identify the set of softwares for which packaging support will be
provided

Hackathon discussions are happening
at "bosug discussion
list"(http://www.opensolaris.org/jive/thread.jspa?threadID=34609&tstart=0)
and
at belenix-discuss mailing list
(http://mail.opensolaris.org/pipermail/belenix-discuss/2007-July/000031.html)

Feel free to pitch in.