[ZF] Proposal: Launchpad code hosting for ZF projects; free commercial support for migration

[Gary Poster]

Hi all.

Launchpad would really like to provide code hosting for the Zope  
Foundation.

* For the Zope Foundation, that would mean that Launchpad would be  
"footing the bill" for hosting the Zope Foundation's projects.

It would also mean a closer connection between Zope and one of its  
largest users in the open-source world.

The connection will also become more visible as

- the Launchpad code is open-sourced this year (Affero GPL: https://dev.launchpad.net/OpenSourcing) 
  and

- libraries are abstracted (LGPL: STORM plus https://edge.launchpad.net/lazr 
; only two at the moment, but current, active work in this regard is  
centered around abstracting and releasing OpenID and REST webservice  
code, among others).

* For Zope developers, the Launchpad code-hosting, via Bazaar, would  
bring several opportunities.

- If the current SVN-like centralized (i.e., non-distributed) workflow  
is preferred, that can be maintained (see "Centralized" in http://bazaar-vcs.org/Workflows) 
.  Moreover, the basic bzr commands are very similar to svn commands,  
so, for instance, I personally found little problem in the switch.

- The community can experiment with or switch to a variety of  
distributed workflows (also described in the link above).

- Code hosting can integrate with the Launchpad bug tracker that Zope  
already uses.  For instance, branches can be marked as fixing bugs,  
either through-the-web or even via commit options (i.e., --fixes=lp: 
12345); bug reports are automatically updated with this progress.

- The community can experiment with a variety of interesting and  
powerful tools that Launchpad provides for process improvement, such  
as our code review features (https://help.launchpad.net/Code/Review).

- The code hosting within Launchpad would mean that projects that also  
use Launchpad and Zope libraries can more easily collaborate.  For  
instance, while the Launchpad team would naturally be proud of the  
endorsement implied by Zope choosing Launchpad's code hosting, the  
bigger attraction for Launchpad's developers, and arguably for the  
project and company, is that it will make it easier for us to follow  
and collaborate with the Zope community, especially as we open- 
source.  The same kind of advantage could benefit other projects on  
Launchpad using Zope libraries.

- The fact that bzr itself is written in Python makes it possible to  
write very interesting associated code with relatively little  
difficulty.  I speak from experience, with writing buildbot  
integration for push and pull change notifications; and code that can  
automatically check local branches for uncommitted or unpushed  
changes, arrange for automated tests to run in an on-demand EC2  
instance, and then submit branches that successfully pass their tests  
for merging.  Other plugins can help automate review processes, help  
enforce code standards, and so on.

And of course, development on Launchpad code-hosting and Bazaar is on- 
going and fast-paced, and interesting improvements (i.e., http://blog.launchpad.net/launchpad-performance-week/roundup-of-the-first-launchpad-performance-week) 
  and changes are always one-month-release away.

* We would like to offer the Zope Foundation free commercial support  
for the period of the migration plus three months in order to smooth  
the transition.  The Zope Foundation would specify two or three people  
for access to the support line.  These people would marshal the issues  
and act as conduits between the community and the Launchpad team.

Thank you for your consideration,

Gary