WordPress MU

I've found wordpress mu's trac installation at http://trac.mu.wordpress.org/ but it seems I can't modify anything without an account, but there doesn't appear to be any way to create one. The subversion repository also requires authentication at
svn export http://svns.automattic.com/wordpress-mu/trunk/ (but if you drop the last 's' from 'svns' you're ok to export/checkout).

Can we please make it easier for people to get involved in the project?

What is it that you wanted to do? Modify the files and contribute to the revisions?

Those are done by donncha and crew I believe >_>;.. If you want to help, I believe you contact them directly?

If you're talking about downloading from the trunk and whatever, you just use your login name and password from here.

If you're talking about opening tickets/modifying etc.. you also just use your login name and password from here.

It would be pretty insecure if anyone and everyone were allowed to directly modify the files people are downloading from the trunk.

Gotta admit that I don't use SVN myself and have never contributed to an Open Source project directly to the code base. (I don't recall ever getting write access outside of my own projects) I just always use tickets to submit fixes myself and have done so here as well.

Right you are - I worked out how to set my password so I can remember it and was able to log in to trac (and presumably svn too). I'm happy enough to submit patches against tickets for now.

:D:D very eager members (me) will be looking for more people to add patches.

What's the process for incorporating patches? There's a danger that a patch will rot if it is not applied quickly enough. Further, a contributor may get disinterested in submitting work if the patch is ignored.

This has happened on other open source projects (e.g. TWiki).

e.g. http://trac.mu.wordpress.org/ticket/113 is 3 weeks old.

Perhaps it would be useful to have two branches - stable and unstable - such that unstable is open to anyone and only doncha can commit to stable.

I consider trac to be 'stable' since that's what is compiled at the end of each day for download.

so is there an unstable one that I can submit code changes to?

You can go download the current and then put the changes in and then host it on your own if you want >_>;..

It's still a risk for ANYONE to submit the code directly without donncha and people looking over it first to make sure it's fine. Unstable shouldn't mean any and all ideas submitted whenever someone thinks of something new. Someone could write some malicious code and submit it and then unsuspecting people come and download for the 'ultra cool latest patches' and screws himself way over. However, if you want to go and take that responsibility you can go host it yourself :x.. I just don't think it's a good idea for stuff on here to be THAT bleeding edge. If it's something extremely extremely critical, after you submit a ticket and flag it as such, and donncha and company sees, they'll probably integrate it in after checking it over. I doubt they'd leave it long enough to rot.

It's still a risk for ANYONE to submit the code directly without donncha and people looking over it first to make sure it's fine.

I know over at the SVN for regular WordPress, only trusted users are able to submit patches directly to the SVN code.

As I say, on other projects, e.g. TWiki, there is a vetting process through which the community establishes who gets check-in rights.

As the group gets bigger, the project gets more momentum. Its not just the core developers who check the each other's contributions - anyone with check-in rights has the power to incrementally improve the software.

Sure, you need a development process and some agreed scoping to ensure the group only puts in changes that are acceptable for the next release. TWiki has a DEVELOP branch for radical changes attributable to future releases and the MAIN branch for changes that would go in the near release.

It'd be great have wpmu multi-user in both functionality and development process. Given enough eyeballs, all problems are shallow: once the community is big enough it can self-regulate contributions.

Since you're pretty new around here, someone (I guess that'd be me) should explain that WP is not like "most other" open source projects. Sure, the code itself is open source, but that does not mean development is. The developers, and the main guy Matt, particularly, have a vision and plan for how they want WP to develop (and consequently WMPU, which follows the WP code).
Donncha is the only guy who updates the WMPU code. Sometimes Matt does, or I think he did in the past. There is a bigger group of people that work on the main WP code, maybe half-a-dozen, tops. (I'm not sure, someone feel free to correct me on that). That is it as for as coding goes, and that is how it will remain, as has been said in Matt's blog, on wp mailing lists, on the wp.org forums and many, many other places around.
I can tell you are really eager to help out though. :) You should read this for ways you can help, if you haven't already:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Contributing_to_WordPress
Even thoguh it is mostly about the regular WP, Mu is really just a branch and the same applies here.

Also, I should point out the above is just my own opinion and impression from the past year and a half of being a WP user, an MU user, plugin/theme developer and support forum volunteer.