AkshayGupta

DRAFT 1

Contact information

Project

  • Project Name: Launchpad Offline Bug Client

  • Project Description: Apart from the most obvious purpose of solving the problem of preparing a bug report (to be reported on Launchpad) without the lack of live internet connectivity, this would come across as a proper Desktop Bug Client as well.

  • Why did you like this idea?

I liked this for two primary reasons I guess. Internet connectivity in India is really poor and mobile internet availability is next to nothing. Another reason is maybe because of the lacking Desktop Clients for Bug engines around.

  • Project architecture/approach

Launching functionality :

This client would be a standalone application that would have the ability to collect crash reports. Apport already stores the detailed reports in /var/crash which could be accessed by the application, so there can be a few logical possibilities of working out the integration of apport and the client. The mainline should be as an application, sitting in the Applications menu and have a panel-indicator icon that constantly searches the /var/crash directory (when active) similar to how the notifier for Apport works and another launching feature could be patching up Apport to have a 'launch the client' capability (button?), as soon as the apport-collect front-end appears.

UI functionality I :

The main window should atleast have a button that would launch a dialog window which would contain required columns for filling out the bug report. This should be left empty as for filing a new report. If launched through the Apport panel-applet (after detecting a change in the /var/crash ), the dialog window columns should be partially (aptly) filled orienting itself with the bug report and same should happen when launched with the Apport UI as described above. In the main window, there would be two basic columns, one containing the list of bug reports generated locally, and the other containing the comment thread for the concerned bug report with the crash reporter's explanation as the top post of the thread. There should be capability to comment which would be as expected stored offline, probably as an XML file (for each bug report)

Core functionality :

So, as we now have the crash report, we'd need to extend the application's ability to make the user be able to use report as a proper bug report to be later sent off through the application itself.

(More to be added as I learn more)

  • Give us details about the milestones for this project

(Soon)

  • Why will your proposal benefit Ubuntu?

This project should be very developer and power-user friendly. It would solve a very important purpose of bug filing and report creating in a very trivial and non-fussy manner.

Open Source

  • Please describe any previous Open Source development experience:

  • Why are you interested in Open Source?

Availability

  • How long will the project take? When can you begin work?

  • How much time do you expect to have for this project? (weekly)

> 22 hours.

  • Where will you based during the summer?

India (5:30+ GMT)

Other

  • Do you have any commitments for the summer? (holidays/work/summer courses)

Apart from the last week in April and the first 2-3 weeks up in May for my 4th semester exams, nothing else.

  • Have you ever participated in a previous GSoC?

No.

  • Have you applied for any other 2010 Summer of Code projects? If yes, which ones?

Haiku.

  • Why did you apply for the Google Summer of Code ?

Well, to be honest, i'm not a smart guy. I rely on confidence a lot too much to finish off jobs. I've tried jumping into the deep end and have failed to accomplish anything. My inclination towards programming counter-cultures and a lot of 100-line script like coding wasn't helping me grow anywhere. Same monotonous finish-it-off-quickly and make-it-work-quick attitude has only made me lazier. I want to write a project that serves a real purpose. My goal is to be a _part_ of a real world open-source organisation, and I consider this the best way I can get to doing that.

  • Why do you want to participate and why should Ubuntu choose you?

GSoC/2010/AkshayGupta (last edited 2010-03-24 08:57:58 by ABTS-North-Dynamic-032)