[mythtv-users] How to help the mythtv community ( was Re: Live TV interfering with scheduled recordings)

[Michael T. Dean]

On 10/07/2012 12:31 PM, Thomas Mashos wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 7, 2012 at 9:14 AM, Monkey Pet wrote:
>> On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 11:23 PM, Gary Buhrmaster wrote:
>>> On Fri, Oct 5, 2012 at 3:31 PM, Scott harris wrote:
>>> .....
>>>> Though I'm sure it's meaningless to the profoundly useful "if you don't
>>>> like
>>>> it ask for your money back" types that so frequently crop up in the Open
>>>> Source community, who seem to have the attitude "if you can't fix it or
>>>> patch it, keep quiet", I did what I am capable of doing a while ago....
>>>>
>>>> http://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/11119#comment:3
>>> And while reports of bugs are useful, there are probably other things
>>> you *could* do, but have not chosen to do.  Not everyone can code
>>> c++/qt.  But perhaps you can create a theme.  Perhaps you can
>>> update the wiki (there is a bit of "stuff" that is old/obsolete/wrong).
>>> Even if you cannot code, you could contribute some QA resources
>>> for every patch by committing a development system and your time.
>>> Perhaps you could look into assisting with various distro packaging.
>>> Perhaps you can help others on the user list with obscure questions
>>> (freeing Mike's time:-).  Last I looked, the doxygen output was still a
>>> bit incomplete (that was being nice to it), and Improving developer
>>> documentation for the coder developers helps them get things done
>>> faster (and perhaps allows them to get to your issue).  And, of course,
>>> if you want your bug/feature to gain priority, hire a contractor to work
>>> on it (the wiki tells you where to post, and I would guess a number of
>>> the "developers for rent" companies would gladly take your money too).
>>> The developers have consistently said they do want bug reports, but
>>> if/when they get looked at or addressed will totally depend on the
>>> time/energy available to the volunteers.  The reality is that the more
>>> that you contribute, the more you are part of the supporting community
>>> and the more likely it is that your issue will be considered a higher
>>> priority (you scratch their back, they will scratch your back).
>>
>> "The reality is that the more that you contribute, the more you are part of
>> the supporting community and the more likely it is that your issue will be
>> considered a higher priority (you scratch their back, they will scratch your
>> back)."
>>
>> I completely agree with Gary's statement above.  Even if you can't code, you
>> can:
>> 1. respond to questions on IRC or the MAILING LIST.
>> 2. edit the wiki pages, http://mythtv.org/wiki
>> 3. File bugs.
>> 4. document how you resolve issues and publish it, so others can follow.
>>
>> The more the mythtv community seems alive, the more people it will attract.
> I completely agree with this. I've never turned anyone away that
> wanted to help with Mythbuntu but couldn't code. I'll even work with
> you to figure out the best place for you to help.
>

Agreed.  My comment was only meant to imply that if an issue has 
persisted for a long time, in spite of users complaining about it, then 
it must not be important enough to any of those who are doing 
development to warrant their attention.  (In other words, you'll note 
that I've never complained about this issue--which is exactly why I have 
never felt compelled to spend any of my free time working to fix it.)  
So, if it's important to you, you'll likely either need to fix it 
yourself or find someone with the skills required to fix it and convince 
them to work on it.  (Oh, and Gary is exactly right, above.  I have 
spent quite a bit of time working to resolve some issues in the past 
that I didn't care about specifically because they were important to 
people who had contributed a lot to MythTV--especially ones who had 
contributed something that really helped me out.  This isn't a promise 
to fix this particular issue if someone who cares about it does get 
involved, but stranger things have happened...)

And, since I'm replying to Thomas's post and since Thomas has recently 
picked up (yet another responsibility, in addition to all his work on 
Mythbuntu packaging, by agreeing to maintain) the Mythbuntu theme--a 
theme used and loved by /many/ users--I'm going to take this opportunity 
to put in another shameless plug for the "Theme Teams" idea I had 
presented (after others, such as Paul Harrison, gave me the idea).  I've 
been trying to get people to help out some of the theme maintainers for 
over a year, and to this point, no one has volunteered.  See 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/478203#478203 for way 
more info on the idea.

We've moved nearly all (and soon to be /all/) themes into external 
repositories (many at https://github.com/MythTV-Themes ) so that we 
could allow the theme authors and maintainers commit privileges (thereby 
avoiding the middle-man and the extra effort of having to post patches 
to Trac and wait for a MythTV developer to commit it), and we have 
things set up so that any number of maintainers can be given privileges 
on a theme (and the theme author/lead maintainer has the privileges 
necessary to add new maintainers).

The one thing we don't yet have is any volunteers to help.  :(  This 
means that theme authors are generally responsible for making all the 
required changes to themes (changes required by continued development of 
MythTV) as well as testing, fixing, and enhancing the theme.  And, the 
worst part is that they're expected to work on theming parts of MythTV 
that they don't care to use, just so that other users of the theme who 
do use those parts of MythTV can see a well-themed version of those 
screens.  If, instead, those theme users would help with maintenance, 
they could even become the lead for maintaining the screens and reduce 
the author's burden a bit.

In my mind, I see this as an easy job for anyone with a bit of 
graphical/artistic talent or even those without artistic talent who have 
a desire for consistency/improving existing theme code (usability, 
"practical" layout, String consistency, design consistency, ...).  And, 
it shouldn't require a great committment of time (and is unlikely to 
involve deadlines or such) and I'm sure that others on the team would 
understand if some maintainers got busy with work, etc, and disappeared 
for a while.  Basically, I see it as a low-committment promise to /try/ 
to help with the theme you've chosen to use, anyway, to benefit yourself 
and other users of the theme.  (Oh, and don't think it commits you to 
using only one theme forever--you could even be a member of multiple 
theme teams, helping to maintain and having commit privileges for more 
than one theme.)

Anyway, if you are interested, please talk to your favorite theme's 
author (see http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Theme_Teams or your theme's 
themeinfo.xml for contact information ).

Many people complain about the MythTV UI, but the biggest problem facing 
good MythTV UI development is that theming MythTV is just too big a job 
for a single person to do in his spare time.  If we had teams of users 
working on small parts of the theme, the job becomes much less a burden, 
and creating more and more beautiful UIs becomes a much more achievable 
goal.  And, as multiple people work in concert to improve the theme, 
they can each build on the others' ideas to create a product much better 
than any one person could achieve himself.  (In other words, the problem 
isn't so much the theme engine/capabilities of MythUI as it is our 
leaving the entire job of theming all of MythTV to a single person.)

But, FWIW, I sincerely appreciate the effort and commitment of our 
themers, who have done an amazing job in spite of the challenge and 
amount of work involved.  I can't even imagine taking on the job of 
theming MythTV alone.

Thanks,
Mike