User:Perennate

This page is related to Summer of Code 2013

See the list of Summer of Code 2013 Ideas

This is a Summer of Code 2013 student page

perennate - Addon Server

Description

The revamped addon server/client will feature the following (mostly in addition to the existing capabilities):

• Include integration with the various tools, such interacting with WesCamp
• Better versioning handling: new versions will be recorded as separate entries in the database to track updates and file differences or git repository may be used; automatic update detection will be supported on the client side
• Database: a MySQL database will be used to store information about add-ons
• Forum accounts: give add-on authors the ability to publish using forum account(s) instead of the passphrase
• Documentation: improve documentation of server configuration and guide on how to setup an addon server

Language

The server will be written in C++, and will make use of the boost asynchronous I/O library.

Database

Preliminary database structure:

CREATE TABLE addons (id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, name VARCHAR(64), latest_version_id INT, author VARCHAR(64), downloads INT, archive_path VARCHAR(64), extract_path VARCHAR(64), initial_date TIMESTAMP, update_date TIMESTAMP, icon_path VARCHAR(64), type VARCHAR(64), passphrase_hash VARCHAR(128), passphrase_salt VARCHAR(32), primary_user INT, locked INT); -- passphrase_hash, passphrase_salt may be empty string and primary_user may be -1
CREATE TABLE versions (id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, addon_id INT, version VARCHAR(16), changelog VARCHAR(1024), author VARCHAR(64));
CREATE TABLE access (user_id INT, addon_id INT); --means that user_id has uploading access over addon_id
CREATE TABLE dependencies (addon_id INT, dependency_id INT);
CREATE TABLE languages (id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, name VARCHAR(64), short_name VARCHAR(4));
CREATE TABLE translations (id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT, addon_id INT, language_id INT, path VARCHAR(64))

Functions such as searching all addons by a specific author will be supported.

Versioning

This is one possibility for the versioning system.

On the server, version number will be stored as defined by the add-on author, and only the latest version will be maintained on the filesystem. When a client wishes to update (when the client and server version numbers do not match), the client will send the checksum+size of all of the files in the client's version of the add-on.

The server will then respond with each file that the client either doesn't have or whose checksum+size combination don't match. Old files will also be deleted.

When an add-on is being updated, the locked flag will be first set in the database and will wait for ongoing downloads to finish. locked flag is in the database because it can also be used for other reasons besides updates.

Dependencies

If an add-on has dependencies, these will be recursively resolved after a confirmation from the client.

Dependency relations will be stored in the database.

Translation handling

The translation PBL flag will be checked to see if the add-on author wants the add-on to be translated.

Periodically, the add-on server will check Github for any updated add-ons (possibly replaced by hook later). On updates, the translation will be added and relevant rows/files added or updated.

IRC

perennate

Questionnaire

Basics

Write a small introduction to yourself.

Hi! I'm currently a first year student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; I've been interested in networking and games for a while, and worked on a game server for an RTS game before. I'm most experienced with Java and PHP, but also have worked with C++, Python, and a few other languages extensively.

State your preferred email address.

fbastani@perennate.com

If you have chosen a nick for IRC and Wesnoth forums, what is it?

perennate

Why do you want to participate in summer of code?

I think free software is necessary and want to get more involved in open source projects, and think that GSoC is a great way to do that.

What are you studying, subject, level and school?

Computer Science, have taken classes such as Algorithms, Computer Architecture. Currently freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

What country are you from, at what time are you most likely to be able to join IRC?

United States, 2pm-11pm-ish CDT

Do you have other commitments for the summer period ? Do you plan to take any vacations ? If yes, when.

No.

Experience

What programs/software have you worked on before?

• ESP website: https://github.com/learning-unlimited/ESP-Website/
• uxpanel: https://github.com/uakfdotb/uxpanel
• GHost++: https://code.google.com/p/ghostplusplus/

Have you developed software in a team environment before? (As opposed to hacking on something on your own)

A bit, with GHost++ and ESP website. The latter is larger project so I have some experience with pull requests and patches and such.

Have you participated to the Google Summer of Code before? As a mentor or a student? In what project? Were you successful? If not, why?

No.

Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes, please describe the project and the scope of your involvement.

Yes, see above.

• GHost++: this is a game server for Warcraft III (reverse engineered), I added a few features and fixed a few security issues.

• uxpanel: a game server control panel, something I developed.

Gaming experience - Are you a gamer?

Yes!

What type of gamer are you?

I don't play much anymore, but I still love games that give players the ability to customize the game a lot.

What type of games?

Mostly real-time strategy games (especially Warcraft III), but also some MMORPG's (especially if they are space-related) and other strategy games.

What type of opponents do you prefer?

Real people that you can talk to :) playing with friends is fun but I also like playing in random online lobbies.

Are you more interested in story or gameplay?

Depends on the game I suppose. Mostly gameplay though.

Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long and whether you lean towards single player or multiplayer.

I think only once before recently (this before time was a while ago), and I don't remember much. At the moment definitely single player.

If you have contributed any patches to Wesnoth, please list them below. You can also list patches that have been submitted but not committed yet and patches that have not been specifically written for GSoC. If you have gained commit access to our repository (during the evaluation period or earlier) please state so.

Currently:

• https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth-old/pull/1

Communication skills

Though most of our developers are not native English speakers, English is the project's working language. Describe your fluency level in written English.

English is my first language.

What spoken languages are you fluent in?

English.

Are you good at interacting with other players? Our developer community is friendly, but the player community can be a bit rough.

I think so, I can handle people online well in general.

Do you give constructive advice?

If I have constructive advice, I share it.

Do you receive advice well?

I'd like to think that I do, I'm open to ideas and changing my opinion.

Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?

Sometimes yes, but sometimes I can't tell at first.

How autonomous are you when developing ? Would you rather discuss intensively changes and not start coding until you know what you want to do or would you rather code a proof of concept to "see how it turn out", taking the risk of having it thrown away if it doesn't match what the project want

I lie somewhere in between those extremes. I'd like to make sure that what I'm doing is what is desired if it's something complicated, but don't want to spend too long discussing specifics.

Project

Did you select a project from our list? If that is the case, what project did you select? What do you want to especially concentrate on?

I selected the idea to make improvements to the addon server. Concentration is on the general improvements outlined above.

If you have invented your own project, please describe the project and the scope.

N/A

Why did you choose this project?

My involvement with GHost++, gcb, and other server-side software with many network-related functions has given me decent experience in developing servers. Also, I love games that offer a large degree of customization to the player, and the add-on server is a major factor in that for Wesnoth.

Include an estimated timeline for your work on the project. Don't forget to mention special things like "I booked holidays between A and B" and "I got an exam at ABC and won't be doing much then".

• End of May to June 10: have add-on server and related client components support existing features, under an boost.asio structure; also use MySQL database for backend storage and handle maintaining versions on the server-side
• June 10 to June 25: add support for automatic dependency resolution, integration with Wescamp for translation handling, and support for using forum accounts to push add-ons
• June 25 to July 10: add client-accessible functions such as searching add-ons written by a specific author, possibly add various add-on statistics add sort by, etc.
• July 10 to July 15: update/implement command-line tools for add-on administration; update the static web page generator script listing add-ons
• July 15 to end of July, and August: fix bugs, add documentation for add-on developers, finish any other remaining tasks.

Time	Do
End of May to June 7	Have add-on server and related client components support existing feature under a boost.asio structure, and use MySQL database for backend storage
June 7 to June 10	Add server-side handling for versioning
June 10 to June 13	Add support for automatic dependency resolution
June 13 to June 20	Automated ntegration with Wescamp for translation handling
June 20 to June 25	Support using forum accounts to push add-ons (passphrase still supported)
June 25 to July 5	Add searching add-ons written by specific author and other related functions; also show changelog for an add-on
July 5 to July 10	Add various add-on statistics that can be sorted by in the list and viewed in details
July 10 to July 14	Update or implement command-line tools for add-on administration
July 14 to July 15	Update static web page generator script (that lists add-ons)
July 15 to July 30	Work on finishing remaining tasks at this point
August	Fix any remaining bugs and update documentation that has not been added yet; continue working on remaining tasks or feature requests
September	Fix any remaining bugs and update documentation that has not been added yet; continue working on remaining tasks or feature requests

Include as much technical detail about your implementation as you can

See description above.

What do you expect to gain from this project?

The opportunity to develop a better addon server for Battle for Wesnoth, to improve customizations management; and also a better understanding of programming server software to handle existing client code and server-side tools.

What would make you stay in the Wesnoth community after the conclusion of SOC?

Anything; or, more things to be done (whether or not related to add-on server), as I'm sure there will be.

Practical considerations

Are you familiar with any of the following tools or languages?

git, svn: I have used both extensively. C++: have worked on several projects involving C++ STL, Boost, Sdl: I have some experience in Boost, haven't used SDL much. Python: yes, worked on a few large projects with Python cmake, scons: no WML: no Lua: I learned it before but haven't had much experience using it.

Which tools do you normally use for development? Why do you use them?

gedit, grep, emacs: because they are easy to use tools that help in developing. Not sure exactly what question is asking actually.

What programming languages are you fluent in?

Java, C++, Python, PHP, probably a few others.

Would you mind talking with your mentor on telephone / internet phone? We would like to have a backup way for communications for the case that somehow emails and IRC do fail. If you are willing to do so, please do list a phone number (including international code) so that we are able to contact you. You should probably *only* add this number in the application for you submit to google since the info in the wiki is available in public. We will *not* make any use of your number unless some case of "there is no way to contact you" does arise!

Prefer IRC and email but wouldn't mind.

In general, students should be as verbose as possible in their answers and feel free to elaborate.