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fosslc edited this page Dec 30, 2012 · 42 revisions

This page describes the steps to propose and create a new Freeseer project. If you are interested in Google Summer of Code, UCOSP, or just want to get good at video/gstreamer/python/qt programming, please follow these steps to get started with Freeseer.

Looking for more information about Freeseer? Read this.

1) Watch the training videos

These short videos will help give you a sense of what Freeseer is and does:

View the introduction presentation

Watch a demo of Freeeseer 2.0

Watch how to set up Freeseer for VGA capture

How to use Freeseer

2) Get to know us

If you know and trust us, and vice versa, you'll have a lot more fun using the software and hacking the code (if you choose to do so).

The best way to do this is to use the software, join our mailing list, and hang out in IRC.

Typically your success getting code accepted and/or project funded depends on support from the community. The best way to secure support is to get to know the team and community. You do that by interacting in on the mailing list and IRC channel.

mailing list

For those that haven't used Internet Relay Chat (IRC) before, it is a group instant messaging system. It allows the project team to type messages to the rest of the team and communicate. The following link is a web IRC client. You just make up a nickname and can enter the IRC channel for freeseer. freeseer on freenode.net

If you have an IRC client already or want to download a free one (such as Pidgin) - the channel is #freeseer on irc.freenode.net.

3) Ask for ideas/suggestions on the mailing list

Take a look at any tickets in our issue tracker tagged with summercode. These tend to be good items for new people to start with. You are absolutely encouraged to suggest new ideas. To rally support for your idea and get input on how to best approach it please bring it up on the mailing list.

4) Document your idea

Use our designer guide template to start documenting your idea. Once you've got something captured, share it with the mailing list to solicit feedback.

The template is a guide so feel free to add new sections or explain in your document why certain sections aren't relevant. Our design process is intended to be light weight and iterative and still preserve stability and maximize quality in the code base.

5) Create a github account and fork the project

a) When you set up your account, don't forget to set up ssh keys b) When you fork the project in github, you're creating your own private clone of the code. This also gives you your own wiki, bug tracker, etc. This will come in handy for working on the code. c) You can keep your fork in sync with the code from fosslc's freeseer project by rebasing. fosslc's copy is considered the defacto version and the one we publish for download.

Read our git instructions

6) Start developing

We encourage you to use Eclipse with pydev (Python support). This will ensure you format the code correctly. The EGit plugin can enable you to clone and commit changes.

7) Seek feedback

If we can see your code as you work, we can give you tips and suggestions as you go rather than all at once at the point you try and submit your change. To make it easier for us to follow along, please:

a) Commit and push your code

b) Email the mailing list

8) Update your document

Before we accept your change, you'll need to make sure your design document is up to date. It's fairly light weight so just take a few moments to do so. We'll be very happy you did.

9) Post your code to Github Review

The community will scrutinize the code. You must get approval from at least 2 committers AND your code must integrate without conflicts or test issues on Freeseer/development (Freeseer's copy of the code, development branch).