It's that time again everyone! Our amazing community contributors have made all sorts of improvements and upgrades to Islandora. Some have been merged, but some are still hanging out, waiting for the love they need to make it into the code base. We're calling on you - yes you! - to help us get things merged, tested, documented, and released to the world.
I would like to kick off this release cycle with a sprint to mop up some the amazing improvements that have unmerged pull requests. Did you know that we have pull requests for an advanced search module and a basic batch ingest form just lounging around? And that's not all. There are all kinds of great improvements that just need some time and attention. A little code review and some basic testing by others are all that is needed before we freeze the code and start turning the crank on the release process.
Here's a rough timetable for the release:
- April 19 - 30th: Code Sprint
- May 3rd: Code Freeze
- May 3rd - 14th: Testing, bug fixing, responding to feedback
- May 17th - 28th: Documentation sprint
- May 31st - June 18th: More testing, bug fixing, and responding to feedback
- June 21st - July 2nd: Testing sprint
- Release!
This is, of course, an optimistic plan. If major issues are discovered we will take the time to address them which can affect the timeline. I also plan on liaising with the Documentation Interest Group and folks from the Users' Call / Open Meetings for the documentation and testing sprints, and their availabilities may nudge things a week in either direction.
An open and transparent release process is one of the hallmarks of our amazing community. If you or your organization have any interest in helping out, please feel free to reach out or sign up for any of the upcoming sprints. There are plenty of opportunities to contribute regardless of your skill set or level of experience with Islandora. There's something for everyone!
We'll make further announcements for the other sprints, but you can sign up for the code sprint now using our sign up sheet. Hope to see you there!