[torquedev] binary change to .JB files in 2.3-fixes branch!

[Josh Butikofer]

Glen,

The TORQUE community wasn't left out--you'll note I said "proposal for the 
TORQUE roadmap." We will be posting it here for all to see and comment on. It 
isn't set in stone--but somebody has to get the ball rolling and we figured 
since we are the corporate sponsor of TORQUE it might be nice if we do that. We 
aren't trying to be underhanded--we have heard that many on the mailing list 
want more open dialog and we are trying to make changes in response.

You'll need to understand, though, that our roadmap proposal may say things you 
don't find important or don't understand. Realize that there is part of the 
community represented via this mailing list and there is a large part of the 
community that is actively engaging CRI outside of the list: at conferences, in 
meetings, on phone calls, and in e-mails. This "hidden constituency" uses TORQUE 
too--and their voice is just as valid. Just because they are customers that 
don't post to this list doesn't make them any less part of the "TORQUE 
community." Not all TORQUE users will, or even want to, participate on the 
mailing list. Just like admins represent their users' requests when posting to 
the mailing list, so we too try to represent the voices we hear when we make 
changes and suggestions.

Also, as I mentioned in the same e-mail, we are going to have Bugzilla up and I 
am moving as fast as I can on the TORQUE website, but I'm not the only one that 
is involved in getting these things up and running; there is some bureaucracy. 
Bugzilla actually was up about a week ago, and I was going to finish its config 
yesterday, but it has gone down again and our IT dept. is looking into it. :P We 
aren't ignoring requests.

With that said, Bugzilla will help everyone know what bugs are currently out 
there and being worked on. It will also help with some feature requests. A 
TORQUE website will make it easier to distribute information about TORQUE, its 
development process, etc. But both of these two tools alone aren't going to make 
everything perfect. Any open source project can get a bug tracker and a 
website--that doesn't make it great software, nor does it necessarily mean 
communication is instantly improved.

A few years ago the community wanted the docs on a wiki so they could be refined 
by people other than CRI. The theory was great, but unfortunately the wiki was 
underutilized and it didn't solve all failings with the documentation. In some 
ways, it made it worse. We now have full-time technical writers to help with 
TORQUE docs, and the process has improved. My point is, tools aren't going to 
make magic--they can only help facilitate communication, distribution, and 
processes so that people doing work can make the difference.

I hope you don't see us as trying to hide some secret agenda. That's not the 
case. I hope to have what we see as a good start for a roadmap ready today. I 
just have to get all of my notes together and make it presentable.

Thanks,

Josh Butikofer
Cluster Resources, Inc.
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----- "Glen Beane" <glen.beane at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 12:17 AM, Josh Butikofer
> <josh at clusterresources.com> wrote:
> > Sorry I've been silent on this ... my e-mail wasn't properly
> alerting me to updates in the TORQUE mailing list.
> >
> > We are looking into these ideas and are finalizing our proposal for
> the TORQUE roadmap, covering the next few versions of TORQUE--this
> includes how to handle the versioning situation.
> 
> any reason why the TORQUE community was left out of this roadmap
> dicussion?  This is one of the reasons why I want torque bugzilla and
> a torque community website... I think we need to get the community
> more involved