Development Details
Last update: December, 2010 (major rewrite)
The previous plan
There used to be a nice story here, about the challenges ahead and vision on the future of the next generation UnrealIRCd.
Thing is, these plans didn't work out. Development on Unreal4, which was supposed to be a major rewrite, started and got to a standstill, and this process repeated at least 3 times with several variations.
We are currently no longer considering writing a new version from the ground up.
Thing is, these plans didn't work out. Development on Unreal4, which was supposed to be a major rewrite, started and got to a standstill, and this process repeated at least 3 times with several variations.
We are currently no longer considering writing a new version from the ground up.
The plan
We're going back to the very first plan, which is simply basing the next series on the current one. This is how it will be after 3.2.9 is released:
Unreal3.2: Our stable branch, pretty much bugfix-only, objective: stable ircd with no changes that break any configs.
Unreal3.3: Will be branched off after 3.2.9 is released, and will have major parts of it rewritten. Consequently it will require (possibly heavy) editing of config files, some 3rd party modules written for 3.2.x might not work out-of-the-box, compatability only remains in the sense that it will be able to link to 3.2.x. All these changes are required in order for us to move forward.
Unreal3.2: Our stable branch, pretty much bugfix-only, objective: stable ircd with no changes that break any configs.
Unreal3.3: Will be branched off after 3.2.9 is released, and will have major parts of it rewritten. Consequently it will require (possibly heavy) editing of config files, some 3rd party modules written for 3.2.x might not work out-of-the-box, compatability only remains in the sense that it will be able to link to 3.2.x. All these changes are required in order for us to move forward.
So what happens after 3.2.9?
As soon as 3.2.9 is released, we want to dedicate most development resources to Unreal3.3. Naturally, fixes will get backported to Unreal3.2.x.
How long will Unreal3.2 be maintained?
The stable branch of UnrealIRCd, Unreal3.2*, will continue to be maintained. It will take a while until Unreal3.3* is released,
and until then - and a while after - Unreal3.2* will get the usual bugfixes and maybe a new feature here and there.
Potential Developers
It's a common misconception that only diehard coders are welcome, there are many things to do such as adding small features or fixing small bugs, for which you do not need years of experience. What is an advantage though, is if you've already coded an UnrealIRCd module before, or have looked before at the UnrealIRCd source.
You don't need to dedicate yourself for years to Unreal development, even if you only plan to do a couple of tasks, or want to help out during vacation, then please help, as your contributions will be appreciated!
We have two ways that enable people to contribute, they are:
Contributor:
Coder/Developer:
For both: you can visit the devel IRC channel @ irc.unrealircd.com/#unreal-devel
You don't need to dedicate yourself for years to Unreal development, even if you only plan to do a couple of tasks, or want to help out during vacation, then please help, as your contributions will be appreciated!
We have two ways that enable people to contribute, they are:
Contributor:
Not in the team, which means you can work whenever you want and have no obligations. This is useful if you only want to work on a couple of things incidently such as submit patches to bugs occasionally.
Contributing this way is easy: you can go directly to the bugtracker, take an issue (or create one), write a patch, and attach it to the bug# & mark it as 'has patch'.
Contributing this way is easy: you can go directly to the bugtracker, take an issue (or create one), write a patch, and attach it to the bug# & mark it as 'has patch'.
Coder/Developer:
Being a developer/coder for UnrealIRCd means you have easier access to other coders, and have direct CVS write access. You're however expected to work at least a couple of hours a month (5+) on your specific code branch/feature(s). Naturally you can still work on any tasks you want, though you're also expected to fix some bugs now and then and not only add new features ;).
To become an official dev, contact Syzop (allow 48h for a reply). In general, we would want to see some contributions first.
To become an official dev, contact Syzop (allow 48h for a reply). In general, we would want to see some contributions first.
For both: you can visit the devel IRC channel @ irc.unrealircd.com/#unreal-devel
