OpenBMC Janitor/Gardener

[Andrew Geissler]

> On Apr 1, 2020, at 12:34 PM, Richard Hanley <rhanley at google.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I was recently looking into the linux kernel introduction, and I noticed the kernel janitors https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors.  It seems like a pretty interesting idea, and I've been thinking about janitorial tasks in OpenBMC.

Yeah, this is nice. I saw yocto just did something recently as well with their “newcomer” tag.
https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/Newcomers

> For some context, we've had a handful of new developers join recently, and I've been looking for some small refactoring projects that they could work on upstream.

Yeah, best way to learn is always to just jump in with some easy bugs/refactor.

> So I guess there are two parts to this email.  First does anyone have some bite sized improvement task that's been on their wishlist, but there hasn't been anyone around to work on it.  (In particular things around bmcweb and phosphor dbus interfaces would be appreciated).

We’ve always been a bit lacking in unit test coverage in bmcweb. Anything to improve that would be great.
I know Gunnar also has a constant stream of DMTF Redfish spec new function and updates that always need some bmcweb work.

> 
> The other thing is, what do people think would be the best way to publicize these kinds of refactoring/janitorial/gardening tasks. One way would be to create a *gardening* tag in the github issues.  That way people can set up filters for ideas that experts think are a good idea, but probably won't need deep design discussions to get started.

I think we used to try and do this with the “bitesize” tag (https://github.com/openbmc/openbmc/issues?q=label%3Abitesize+) but it really isn’t used much anymore. I’d vote we try and be consistent with whatever tag others use though. “gardening” or maybe the yocto one of “newcomer"

> 
> Another way would be to have a monthly/quarterly wishlist gathering on the mailing list.  That way we have some dedicated time to discuss issues of the day, and put them together into a markdown document (like a per project version of the security group wishlist https://github.com/openbmc/openbmc/wiki/Security-working-group#security-feature-wish-list)

I would def participate in a mailing list gathering on this topic if it were to happen!

> 
> Maybe this is already happening, and I just haven't noticed it.  Anywho, hope you are all doing well.
> 
> Cheers,
> Richard