Drupal.org: tracking projects and contributors
Over the past weeks I've been working on extending the project module and CVS module. The former is responsible for managing projects on drupal.org while the latter lets us track development. As of a few minutes ago, the improvements went live so read on for an overview of what changed.
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Integration of CVS accounts and user accounts
As of today, user accounts are linked to CVS accounts. This means it becomes easier to track Drupal development and that your contributions are automatically showcased. As shown on the screenshots below, your user profile lists the projects you are working on (example: Nedjo's profile) and the user tracker has a new 'track code' function (example: kbahey's profile).
Furthermore, the commit messages on the CVS messages page link directly to users which makes it easy to contact developers using the personal contact forms. Reviewing changes and providing suggestions has never been easier.
An administration interface has been written to administer CVS accounts. Approving CVS accounts is now done from a web interface which should allow us to process new applications in a timely manner. After a testing period, and possibly more CVS module improvements, new people will be recruited to help with the day to day maintenance of the CVS repositories/accounts. A screenshot of the new administration interface is shown below.
Integration of CVS commit messages with projects
In addition to the integration of CVS accounts and user accounts, the CVS module now integrates with the project module. As a result, each project page features two new links: 'View CVS commit messages' and 'View developers'.
The former lets you track development of a particular project (example: the image module's changes), the latter presents you an overview of those who contributed to a particular project (see screenshot of the the wiki module's developers). The combination of both should give you a pretty good idea about the current state of a project, or who to contact about it.
Finally, two new blocks are available: 'Most active developers' and 'Most active projects'. They show the most active developers and the most active projects of the past week. I have enabled both on the CVS messages page so check it out.
Given these are significant changes, I'm sure there will be some quirks. For example, I manually imported the existing CVS accounts and linked them to the corresponding user accounts on drupal.org. Chances are I messed up so if anything is out of whack, let me know. Aside from the quirks there is certainly room for improvement (eg. the way the user profiles are layed out). Rest me to say that both the project and CVS module could use some love. If you want to help make drupal.org a better home, these modules would make a good starting point to get involved.