GSoC applicant proposal, Uday PB
Hi PostgreSQL team,
I am looking forward to participating in the GSoC with PostgreSQL this
summer. Below is my draft proposal for your review. Any feedback would be
greatly appreciated.
*PL/Java online documentation improvements*
*Project goal:*
The goal of the project is to improve the PL/JAVA online documentation
website in terms of appearance, usability, information showcase and
functionality.
*Project deliverables:*
1) A PL/JAVA documentation website having four major categories ( Usage,
release information, modules and project documentation).
2) Auto generated documentation pages for the above-mentioned sections.
3) A page showing documentation tree for more than one release of
PL/JAVA.
4) A custom package which uses maven-site-plugin to generate new
webpages whenever required.
5) A style (CSS) framework class that has all the PostgreSQL style
configurations ready to use.
6) An additional template for about us page or any additional
information required based on velocity template.
*Project implementation plan:*
The project can be divided into three phases as follows:
1) *CSS framework class and Velocity templates:*
Analyze the existing PostgreSQL documentation website and identify all the
style including typography, color, theme, headers and footers. Create a CSS
class file having the color scheme, footer and header styles, font styles
and text sizes. Use existing velocity engine code to accommodate new
release documentation.
2) *Maven-site-plugin package with custom skins:*
Since the PL/Java documentation should look like the original PostgreSQL
documentation, create a template file and a new skin using the
maven-site-plugin from apache. Document the template file configurations
and skin styles. Create a multi-module site menu (
https://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-site-plugin/examples/multimodule.html)
that would accommodate multiple releases of PL/Java. The sub-files will
inherit the site URL from parent POM. The new pages containing the newer
release information would inherit data from JavaDoc using Velocity.
3) *Documentation and Testing:*
Document the new documentation tree menu developed using maven-site-plugin
and the skin. Create documentation for the CSS style class and velocity
plugin changes.
*Timeline:*
This week-by-week timeline provides a rough guideline of how the project
will be done.
May 4 – May 16
Familiarize with website and velocity. Start with simple CSS framework
class to clone the original PostgreSQL documentation website styles and
themes.
May 17 – May 30
Start writing the CSS framework class and a new routine to import new
release data using maven-site-plugin and velocity. Maintain a configuration
file to track the progress.
May 31 – June 5
Make minor changes to the existing Pl/JAVA documentation website template
to visualize the improvements. Start implementing multi-module menu changes
in the website. Add new skin using maven-site-plugin skins (which will use
styles from the CSS framework class).
June 10 – June 25
Create a dummy data file to test the documentation trees multi-module menu.
This should include at least two dummy release data to test the page
aesthetics and user experience. Conduct feedback survey to analyze the new
look of the website and the user experience.
July 1 – July 10
Improve minor typography issues and color schemes across the website and
its pages. Document the test routines and the website code base. Also
document the skin and style configuration used.
*About me :*
I am a computer science graduate student at Arizona State University
pursuing projects in Node.JS, MySQL and react-native. I am part of the
Google developer’s club here where I volunteer to contribute on several of
their projects including some applications that help students find the
right professor using HTML, CSS, Velocity and GitHub pages. I have a
combined experience of 5 years developing and deploying websites using
several frameworks including Vue.JS, Reast.JS and site generators. I have
used PostgreSQL in some of my projects that involve analysis and querying
of geo-spatial data and hence I would like to contribute to this project.
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03/17/20,
10:11:21 PM
Hi,
On 3/18/20 1:11 AM, p.b uday wrote:
summer. Below is my draft proposal for your review. Any feedback would be
greatly appreciated.
...
The goal of the project is to improve the PL/JAVA online documentation
website in terms of appearance, usability, information showcase and
functionality.
Thanks for your interest! There is plenty of room for the existing
documentation to be improved.
May 4 – May 16
Familiarize with website and velocity. Start with simple CSS framework
class to clone the original PostgreSQL documentation website styles and
themes.
I should perhaps clarify that I don't think it's essential for the
PL/Java docs to exactly clone the styles of PostgreSQL or of another
project. I would be happy to achieve something more like a family
resemblance, as you see, for example, between postgresql.org and
jdbc.postgresql.org. There are many differences, and the shades of
blue aren't the same, but you could believe they are related projects.
PL/Java's looks very different, only because it's currently using
the default out-of-the-box Maven styles with almost zero adjustments.
The PL/Java doc sources are less like PostgreSQL's (which are
DocBook XML) and more like PgJDBC's (both use Markdown, but with
different toolchains). I think changing the markup language would
be out of scope; Markdown seems adequate, and personally I find it
less tiring to write. It would be nice to get it to generate tables
of contents based on existing headings.
Further discussion should probably migrate to the pljava-dev list
but that seems to be wedged at the moment; I'll look into that
and report back. Meanwhile let's be sparing in use of pgsql-hackers
(the final commitfest for PostgreSQL 13 is going on this month).
Regards,
-Chap
Hi!
On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 8:13 AM p.b uday <uday.pb26@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi PostgreSQL team,
I am looking forward to participating in the GSoC with PostgreSQL this summer. Below is my draft proposal for your review. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.PL/Java online documentation improvements
Does your project imply any coding? AFAIR, GSoC doesn't allow pure
documentation projects.
------
Alexander Korotkov
Postgres Professional: http://www.postgrespro.com
The Russian Postgres Company
Greetings,
* Alexander Korotkov (a.korotkov@postgrespro.ru) wrote:
On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 8:13 AM p.b uday <uday.pb26@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi PostgreSQL team,
I am looking forward to participating in the GSoC with PostgreSQL this summer. Below is my draft proposal for your review. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.PL/Java online documentation improvements
Does your project imply any coding? AFAIR, GSoC doesn't allow pure
documentation projects.
Yeah, I was just sending an email to Chapman regarding that.
There is a "Google Season of Docs" that happened last year in the fall
that this would be more appropriate for.
Thanks,
Stephen
On 3/19/20 2:03 PM, Alexander Korotkov wrote:
Does your project imply any coding? AFAIR, GSoC doesn't allow pure
documentation projects.
That's a good question. The idea as I proposed it is more of an
infrastructure project, adjusting the toolchain that currently
autogenerates the docs (along with some stylesheets/templates) so
that a more usable web reference is generated from the existing
documentation—and to make it capable of generating per-version
subtrees, as the PostgreSQL manual does, rather than having the
most recent release be the only online reference available.
I was not envisioning it as a technical-writing project to improve
the content of the documentation. That surely wouldn't hurt, but
isn't what I had in mind here.
I am open to withdrawing it and reposting as a Google Season of Docs
project if that's what the community prefers, only in that case
I wonder if it would end up attracting contributors who would be
expecting to do some writing and copy-editing, and end up intimidated
by the coding/infrastructure work required.
So I'm not certain how it should be categorized, or whether GSoC
rules should preclude it. Judgment call?
Regards,
-Chap
Greetings,
* Chapman Flack (chap@anastigmatix.net) wrote:
On 3/19/20 2:03 PM, Alexander Korotkov wrote:
Does your project imply any coding? AFAIR, GSoC doesn't allow pure
documentation projects.That's a good question. The idea as I proposed it is more of an
infrastructure project, adjusting the toolchain that currently
autogenerates the docs (along with some stylesheets/templates) so
that a more usable web reference is generated from the existing
documentation—and to make it capable of generating per-version
subtrees, as the PostgreSQL manual does, rather than having the
most recent release be the only online reference available.I was not envisioning it as a technical-writing project to improve
the content of the documentation. That surely wouldn't hurt, but
isn't what I had in mind here.I am open to withdrawing it and reposting as a Google Season of Docs
project if that's what the community prefers, only in that case
I wonder if it would end up attracting contributors who would be
expecting to do some writing and copy-editing, and end up intimidated
by the coding/infrastructure work required.
I appreciate that it might not be a great fit for GSoD either, but that
doesn't mean it fits as a GSoC project.
So I'm not certain how it should be categorized, or whether GSoC
rules should preclude it. Judgment call?
You could ask on the GSoC mentors list, but I feel pretty confident that
this doesn't meet the criteria to be a GSoC project, unfortunately. The
GSoC folks are pretty clear that GSoC is for writing OSS code, not for
pulling together tools with shell scripts, or for writing documentation
or for systems administration or for other things, even if those other
things are things that an OSS project needs.
Thanks,
Stephen
On 03/19/20 15:31, Stephen Frost wrote:
So I'm not certain how it should be categorized, or whether GSoC
rules should preclude it. Judgment call?You could ask on the GSoC mentors list, but I feel pretty confident that
this doesn't meet the criteria to be a GSoC project, unfortunately.
It did produce a useful thread on the mentors list, with views like
"while GSOC project doesn't allow project about *WRITING* documentation,
I don't see any reason why coding some solution which improves your
release cycles for eternity wouldn't qualify as a valid GSOC project" and
"if it's just writing a few scripts that will take a week and the remainder
is documenting that work, I'm fairly certain that doesn't count as a valid
GSoC. Now if it's code-heavy -- then definitely that counts as a valid
GSoC project."
At the same time, an off-list response added "However if the org admins
don't like the project, or prefer other projects instead of it, the
project has low chances of being selected" and, given that there doesn't
seem to be clear agreement, and the organization surely will have more
worthy projects than slots will be available for, it is probably best
that I withdraw this one for now.
p.b uday, thank you for your interest and the time spent on your
proposal; I'm sorry to be withdrawing this project. I hope you might
continue to have interest in PostgreSQL generally or PL/Java specifically
in the future.
Regards,
-Chap
-------Original Message-------
From: Chapman Flack <chap@anastigmatix.net>p.b uday, thank you for your interest and the time spent on your
proposal; I'm sorry to be withdrawing this project. I hope you might
continue to have interest in PostgreSQL generally or PL/Java specifically
in the future.Regards,
-Chap
Uday how about starting work on your proposal and claimed interest in PostgreSQL without worrying about the GSoC money ?
On 03/21/20 10:36, inout wrote:
Uday how about starting work on your proposal and claimed interest in
PostgreSQL without worrying about the GSoC money ?
Naturally I'd be pleased with that outcome, but it's a purely personal
and situational decision that I wouldn't presume to press.
Regards,
-Chap