How to "Hack" the DSpace Community

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
How to “Hack” the
DSpace Community
Tim Donohue, DuraSpace
DSpace Tech Lead
tdonohue@duraspace.org

Hacking any OS Community
• How do things get done?
• Who are the “do-ers”?
• What is their motivation? Why do
they care?
• What is your own motivation? What
do you want to achieve?

How things get done
• Releases just
happen!
• One person /
organization
decides it all!
• Ummm… no.

The Primary “Do-ers”
• Committers Team
• DSpace Community Advisory Team
(DCAT)
• “The Community” (i.e. YOU)

Committers
• Meritocracy and democracy
• 24 volunteers from around the globe
• Roles:
– Reviewers / approvers of code
– Writers of (some, but not all) code
– Fixers of bugs / maintainers of software
– Release planners
– Technology support
http://tinyurl.com/dspace-committers

DCAT
• Open membership
• 22 volunteers from around the globe
• Roles:
– Voice of the repository manager/admin
– Champions of feature requests/bug fixes
– Surveyors of community / Networkers
– Gatherers of use cases
– Repository Admin support
http://tinyurl.com/dspace-dcat

The Community /
Contributors
• Everyone, literally (includes YOU)
• Roles:
– Answerers of questions (on mailing lists)
– Providers of feedback
– Requesters of features
– Reporters of bugs / issues
– Contributors of features / bug fixes
– Contributors to documentation

What about this new
Governance model?

Goals of Governance Model
• Really about increasing efficiency
and organization of our resources
• Help us to better prioritize what gets
done
• Helps try to locate more resources /
funding (add more “do-ers”)
You can have more opportunities & influence.
Become a DuraSpace Member! Support DSpace!

Who writes the code?
• Committers (and developers at their
institutions)
• The Community
– submit code for review (via GitHub)
• Recent Major Releases:
– 4.0 : 59 contributors (19 Committers)

Code Commits to DSpace
Committers (non-DuraSpace)
DuraSpace
Community Members
* - Moved to GitHub post-1.8.0
(NOTE: Not all “Committer” code is actually written by Committers)
Data based on commits between release dates, from:
https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/graphs/contributors
Data based on commits between release dates, from:
https://github.com/DSpace/DSpace/graphs/contributors

So, why should ISo, why should I
contributecontribute
(code)?(code)?

Motivations to contribute
• “Greater Good” motivations, e.g.
– Betterment of product for all
– Help your colleagues, earn “merit”
• “Local” motivations, e.g.
– This tiny fix needs to be maintained!
– Upgrade difficulty increases as you
make more locally-specific changes
– Are you *CERTAIN* your local change is
really only interesting to you? Ask.

OK, I have (code)OK, I have (code)
to contribute!to contribute!

How do I contribute code?
1. Open a ticket in JIRA (anyone can)
– Attach or link to code change
1. Code change is reviewed by
Committers
– Majority vote wins. But, veto power.
1. Response is either:
– Accepted -> it’s in!
– Changes requested -> it needs fixes
– Rejected -> it’s out?

Why may delay a ticket?
• Committers are volunteers!
• Sometimes…
– we overlook things / forget
– we have questions / concerns
– we don’t have enough background
info / details
– we cannot find a
volunteer developer
http://tinyurl.com/dspace-code

How can I help speed it up?
• Be responsive, please
• Remind us
(seriously, we don’t mind)
• Use JIRA & GitHub
• Share your code early
– Esp. large changes
http://tinyurl.com/dspace-code

Oh, I need thisOh, I need this
feature!feature!

How do I request a feature?
1. Open up a ticket to describe feature
and sample use cases
2. Ticket & idea are reviewed
– By both Committers and DCAT
– DCAT may add use cases / promote
1. Volunteer developer(s) sought
2. Feature built/developed
3. Feature code reviewed / approved
http://tinyurl.com/dspace-contribute

• Help gather info / use
cases
• Help locate developer
– Hire service provider?
• ‘Vote’ or comment on
features of interest in
JIRA
http://tinyurl.com/dspace-contribute

I think I justI think I just
found a bug!found a bug!

How do I get it fixed?
1. Open a ticket (if one doesn’t exist)
2. Ticket is reviewed (by Committers)
– We attempt to verify the bug
1. Volunteer developer(s) sought
2. The fix is determined/developed
3. Bug fix code is reviewed / approved

• Provide as much info
as you can about
reproducing the bug
• Help locate a
developer and/or fix
• You can also help us
verify bugs!
– In JIRA, add a
verification comment

Look, I already
knew all of this…

Get (more) involved!
• Help answer questions on lists
• Help improve documentation on wiki
• Join DCAT
• Help verify bugs or send in fixes
• Opportunities abound, get in touch

Questions / Comments?
Contact Info & Slides
• Email: tdonohue@duraspace.org
• Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/tdonohue/
Image Credits
• Hacker: https://flic.kr/p/bEy1pi
• Magic ball: https://flic.kr/p/tYTwd
• ToDo’s: https://flic.kr/p/9Lcbki
• Give: https://flic.kr/p/KBY6e
• Share: https://flic.kr/p/5NAgHs
• Checkmark: https://flic.kr/p/6aYF5x
• Snail: https://flic.kr/p/6nv5sA
• Speed of Light: https://flic.kr/p/2ojA8h
• Penny: https://flic.kr/p/7XvhFR
• Bug: https://flic.kr/p/2Bow
• Learn, Teach, Help, Enjoy: https://flic.kr/p/bk7tHV

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