alcopop.org

14:13: Introducing debgtd

debgtd in action

Recently the number of open bugs that I had submitted hit 100. I had completely lost track of which bugs I was interested in, which ones needed my attention, etc. so I started developing a prototype tool to try and help me keep track of it all. I've called it "debgtd", after getting things done, the self-improvement method which has proven very popular in IT culture.

The current prototype will import the list of bugs that you have submitted from the BTS and let you display them sorted either by severity or package name. You can "sleep" a bug if it does not require your attention at present (e.g. awaiting maintainer feedback), or "ignore" it if you no longer want to keep track of it (e.g. you've stopped using the package in question). Double-clicking a row invokes your system's default X web browser on the bug page.

This is enough at the moment to help me work through my backlog, although once I've done that I have ambitious plans for encoding more workflow into it (such as waking sleeping bugs up on events etc.).

Try it out and see what you think: : code and a more rambling explanation of plans for the tool are available here. It's written in python and uses pygtk for the UI.

Category: /debian

23:14: Debian Games

I'm a member of the debian games team. We package a huge number of games, and I feel slightly ashamed that I have played very few of them. I decided I should try and play every single one, at least once, and write a one-line summary of it. Call it "QA".

I'll try and do roughly one a day. Today, amphetamine. Quoting the control file, Amphetamine is an exciting jump'n run game that offers some unique visual effects like colored lighting, fogging and coronas..

Amphetamine is a 2d side-on platformer/shooter. You shoot what look like toxic versions of mario koopas and run around pushing buttons etc. The game structure is reasonably common but the concept and environment are fairly strange.

I added a screenshot for it to games-thumbnails and filed three bugs: ship a .desktop file (471254); supply a symlink /usr/games/amph -> /usr/games/amphetamine (471257) (fix in SVN); game loop runs CPU at 100% (471259).

Category: /debian

23:11: Tabbed WMs

I moved back to using the ion window manager today (ion2 to be precise). Having tabs in my window manager, I no longer needed them in my web browser, which at the moment is epiphany. I couldn't find a way of disabling them or an extension to do it so I wrote my own.

It's at /code/epiphany/, works for the epiphany in Etch but not in sid: it seems the GNOME people have disabled the "Detach Tab" functionality I was relying on.

I think I can get it working in the later epiphany versions with a bit more work.

Category: /debian

23:40: DebConf7

I want to write a blog entry about DebConf but I'm simply lost for words. Thank you to everyone for coming and making it such an incredible two weeks. Thanks to the rest of the orga team for working so hard; thanks to all of the non-orga people who have pitched in and saved the day countless times. For those of you I have not met in person before, it was a pleasure to do so: for those I have, it has been fantastic getting better acquainted.

I am now back home and back online for the first time in months. Its now time to dust off my Debian todo list (NM; packaging etc.) and see what needs doing...

I have at least one objective for the next DebConf (or possibly the next Debian UK BBQ): get the doom stuff in Lenny to a suitable quality that we can have much larger and more reliable deathmatches. I think the teviot building would make an excellent doom map, too.

Category: /debian

21:06: DebConf7 and the net

DebConf kicks off in less than a week (at least for the organisers) and I still don't have broadband at home. I'm typing this whilst sitting in a furniture shop around the corner from my house, where there are some open wifi points within range, which is what I've had to do for the last three or four IRC meetings and at various points in the weekends.

Organising conferences is hard!

Category: /debian