intrigeri:
> Hi,
>
> it's likely much of April will be spent on polishing and releasing
> Tails 0.11.
>
> Once this is done, we will have shipped a few major new features into
> the wild. Once this is done, I hereby propose we pause implementation
> of big new features for a short while, and instead focus on two areas
> where, I think, we are lagging behind:
>
> * re-scaling our _infrastructure_
> * connecting back to our immediate _surroundings_
>
> This proposal is not aimed at preventing anyone from implementing new
> features. It's about outlining a general direction I propose we
> collectively take.
>
> This proposal is not about organizing work or matching people to
> tasks. It's about outlining a vision.
>
> Contrary to my usual release schedule proposals, this one contains no
> time indication of any kind. We'll set those later, once and if we
> agree on the general vision.
>
> My immediate desire is to hear answers and feelings about this general
> vision. I'll understand commenting and debating on details as implicit
> agreement on the general vision ;)
I really like this plan and agrees that now is the right time to do it
(before it's too late actually).
We also need to keep in mind that, seeing the bunch of major features
that are introduced in Tails 0.11 we are likely to spend quite some time
on bug fixes, adjustments, user requests, etc.
Having a look at /contribute/roadmap/ it also seems like we're not so
far from Tails 1.0! But that would require some extra work on
advertising, public relationships, etc. But maybe that's too ambitious.
If we go for that, I would also like to dedicate some of our time on
documenting stuff that has been shipped in Tails for a while but lacks
dedicated pages on the website:
- OTR
- OpenPGP
- MAT
Those are not software created by us so the documentation work might
likely evolve around linking external docs, improving existing docs or
pushing upstream the stuff we could write.
> Re-scaling our _infrastructure_
> ===============================
>
> Most of our current infrastructure has slowly grown from what was
> initially setup back in the early days of a project called amnesia.
> Since then, well, many things happened. It's almost a miracle that our
> infrastructure has scaled this well until now. But the limits of the
> old design are becoming apparent in various places. Most of the needs
> were thought through already, some of the future plans are crystal
> clear, what is now needed is to spend serious time on it, implement
> designed bits and design others for the next few years:
>
> * APT repository - https://tails.boum.org/todo/APT_repository/
> This blocks the Git split, the move to Icedove, and possibly
> todo/distribute_source.
>
> * split Git - https://tails.boum.org/todo/split_Git/
> Our current Git is too big, and mixes stuff that hardly belongs
> together. Post-0.11 will be a great time to rewrite history, as we
> won't have that many unmerged development branches.
>
> * improve the forum - https://tails.boum.org/todo/improve_the_forum/
> Moving to a better web forum will get us a less cluttered Git
> history, better user experience, and hopefully even better
> community dynamics.
>
> * automated builds and tests
> https://tails.boum.org/todo/automated_builds_and_tests/
> This will become huge, but should start small.
>
> * more stable WhisperBack SMTP relay
> https://tails.boum.org/todo/more_stable_WhisperBack_SMTP_relay/
> Bring some more hardware up and running,
> refactor the Puppet recipes into a dedicated module.
>
> * document and clarify how our infrastructure works
> Some parts are very well documented, some are not at all.
> It should become easier to share infrastructure maintenance work.
>
> * miscellaneous other stuff:
> https://tails.boum.org/todo/locking_down_this_website/
> https://tails.boum.org/todo/better_web_interface_to_translate_this_website/
>
> * more?
Great.
> Connecting back to our immediate _surroundings_
> ===============================================
>
> Many, among the software projects that are Tails upstream, are
> currently preparing new stable releases. Time is getting tight to make
> sure their upcoming releases fits Tails needs.
>
> * live-build 3.x - https://tails.boum.org/todo/live-build_3.x/
> Tails relies on Debian Live. Heavily.
> Tails 0.11 will ship live-boot and live-config 3.x,
> but we're still using live-build 2.x.
> We need to convert our configuration tree to the (deeply
> incompatible) live-build 3.x format. There is no turning back.
> All unmerged branches shall be converted, if possible at the
> same time. Just like the Git split, I think post-0.11 is a great
> time to do so... and, along the way, fix any bug in live-build 3.x
> we find.
>
> * Debian Wheezy
> Tails relies on Debian. Heavily.
> Debian Wheezy is supposed to be frozen in June.
> We need to check what, in the current state of Debian Wheezy, is not
> fit for Tails, and fix it or have it fixed.
> Next step: to build Wheezy test images.
>
> * AppArmor - https://tails.boum.org/todo/Mandatory_Access_Control/
> I've started to work on getting Debian Wheezy some AppArmor support.
> If the Wheezy freeze is not postponed, June is the deadline to get
> such things into Debian. Ping me if you're interested in testing
> stuff.
>
> * Tor 0.2.3.x
> We need to make sure the next major Tor stable release will be great
> for Tails, with a focus on the separate streams features.
> Next steps: everyone of us, let's run Tor 0.2.3.x and use the
> separate streams feature. Put it into Tails experimental.
>
> * Vidalia 0.4
> ... is supposed to be released as stable in the next few months.
> We need to make sure it will be great for Tails, with a focus on the
> areas it's lacking for us (bridges support) and where we patch it
> (see our patches). It would be great if we could ship Vidalia 0.4
> without any custom patch, wouldn't it?
> Next steps:
> - run Vidalia 0.3.x from Debian experimental
> - test the branch that implements Tor#2905
> - look at our patches, and see what we could drop, have merged, or
> implement as a plugin
>
> * more?
Great.
--
sajolida
