2015-01-05, 01:12
Ok i want to say this up front although I have been writing code for 25 years
I will probably never be a major contributor to either the core or plugins.
I am also writing this with the understanding much or most of what I am writing has already been thought of by many people here.
I am an End User and I don't see that changing.
Unfortunately for many reasons (family, work and such) I just don't have time to contribute in an on going basis like I have for other projects of this type like RedHat 1996 to 2001, WordPress1x to 3.3, Drupal until their split and a handful of others.
If I do write any code or contribute its going to be a one off .. here ya go.. have fun with it.. deal.
But after reviewing this project as I am implementing it in my home I am finding that you are not taking full advantage of your resources and developers. Mostly this is do to how projects are managed.
I think this is very unfortunate because not only do you have a large number of users you also have some very talented developers. We are not talking about a simple php app that lets you post pictures of your cat to a website..
This is a multi-platform project that requires knowledge in areas that can be the most complex uses of multimedia found in computing.. heh seriously .. You know better than I do all the pieces it takes to implement this project and its something that no individual or even a small group could do alone or if so not very well.
But you got to get a grasp on your developers.
Standardize how code is submitted.
The formats that it is available to end users.
The location that the files are held and if there are mirrors.
The documentation required for each submission.
Specifically I am talking about plugins and documentation not the core project but you might want to apply some of those standards to the core too.
When I search for a plugin for Kodi I am finding
They are difficult to find
They are maintained at the developers site in a format they choose
Documentation is sketchy at best.
I know the kodi.tv site tries to present plugins and documentation but if you were to visit WordPress.org vs this site you have to say the differences are pretty vast.
Wordpress presents a plugin with a concise plugin page
Documentation is tabbed from that plugin page so you don't have to search forms.
Documentation provides the user with a simple description with features
and then implementation information as necessary in a standardized way.
Questions can be submitted directly to the plugin author from the plugin page.
Code is maintained on wordpress.org servers
Now even they have something to be desired they don't require authors to maintain archives of their plugins so people can jump back a version or even just look at the code as it progressed to see how a plugin is developed over time. This is very important for new developers to see how it started .. the steps and fixes .. the latest code... it lets people not only harvest code to use in a different project that needs a feature such as an API Call .. it lets people see the progression of skills.. the problems that resulted in bugs.. and so on.
I don't know that Kodi.tv wants to take on an archive of all plugins because of costs but its not a bad idea to consider and if not then the core should archive all plugins no matter the source just for reference even if not available to the public.. and find an archive site or a few sites that can act as mirrors. Require that plugins be maintained or available through required archive sites... how am i saying this.. if you don't require upload to kodi.tv then.. Kodi.tv picks a list of acceptable archive sites you know wont go down. but also keep a non public archive for backup in case it does.
Lets face it for many reasons developers disappear. They could have financial or health issues.. they could have just lost interest or felt unappreciated.. or found something better to do with their time.. like drinking.. whatever the reason their contribution should be preserved not only for end users.. not only for the core .. but also out of respect.. Someone takes a month or six months or a couple years to develop code and as this project progresses that contribution should be preserved even if their contribution is deprecated due to code changes or other reasons.
DOCUMENTATION
This is really difficult because of the variety of different types of documentation that needs to exist.
Plugin developers should have rules as to how they present their projects but it should be through an interface that allows them to do it with no other option. Simply have them submit a form that generates everything and then present that to the visitor.
Core Documentation should be laid out in a way that is easy to manage and contribute to.
This should also be done through forms to require specific information to be submitted and then it should be reviewed.
It should include not only end user but developer documentation needed to build projects.
A list should be formed by the core team and suggestions by others. The list should start with what is available now and what should be submitted later and that way a contributor can go through the requested documentation list and say.. hey i know about that.. then submit it.
...........
I hope that you consider this and more. Take a strong look at how other projects are maintained and how they maintain their documentation, code, and contributed plugins.
Emulate the good and discard the bad.
In this way end users will find it easier to use the product and find available plugins to extend it.
Developers will have a stable method of contributing and also finding code from other authors.
Code that is open source and publicly available will be aggregated and people whether end users or developers won't have to rely on third party websites that may have been taken down by the author for any reason.
The idea is to optimize what you have and then leverage every persons contribution to allow further contribution.
This is what Microsoft did early on when they released access to their API while Apple never did.
If Kodi wants to end up a CellPhone App then maybe they should follow Apple's direction and lock down the code or let it be so randomly maintained that it is unusable.. that people spend days trying to find a solution to an obvious problem rather than minutes.
anyway .. take this with a grain of salt
I only wrote this because I want the best for this project... I am also leaving tons of stuff out that i wish i could suggest because this is too much as it is...
Your application and all of the plugin developers and others in the community are doing heroic work when it comes to helping people cut the cord and move to antenna and streaming ... which most likely is the future of entertainment... but it is saving people a lot of money that can be used for food or other utility bills.. or just beer... heh i don't drink..
And I know you guys are busy .. you have lives.. and often its somethings that you want to get to but never can.
But like a Mechanic its best to have all of your tools maintained in an orderly fashion.. or as a customer waits you find yourself digging through piles of stuff just to find the right wrench...
Checkout codex.wordpress.org and take some of their ideas on maintaining code and documentation..
And don't take this as offensive or a putdown .. do it because you want to grow..
and this is really the best time to do it..
best wishes
from an end user.
I will probably never be a major contributor to either the core or plugins.
I am also writing this with the understanding much or most of what I am writing has already been thought of by many people here.
I am an End User and I don't see that changing.
Unfortunately for many reasons (family, work and such) I just don't have time to contribute in an on going basis like I have for other projects of this type like RedHat 1996 to 2001, WordPress1x to 3.3, Drupal until their split and a handful of others.
If I do write any code or contribute its going to be a one off .. here ya go.. have fun with it.. deal.
But after reviewing this project as I am implementing it in my home I am finding that you are not taking full advantage of your resources and developers. Mostly this is do to how projects are managed.
I think this is very unfortunate because not only do you have a large number of users you also have some very talented developers. We are not talking about a simple php app that lets you post pictures of your cat to a website..
This is a multi-platform project that requires knowledge in areas that can be the most complex uses of multimedia found in computing.. heh seriously .. You know better than I do all the pieces it takes to implement this project and its something that no individual or even a small group could do alone or if so not very well.
But you got to get a grasp on your developers.
Standardize how code is submitted.
The formats that it is available to end users.
The location that the files are held and if there are mirrors.
The documentation required for each submission.
Specifically I am talking about plugins and documentation not the core project but you might want to apply some of those standards to the core too.
When I search for a plugin for Kodi I am finding
They are difficult to find
They are maintained at the developers site in a format they choose
Documentation is sketchy at best.
I know the kodi.tv site tries to present plugins and documentation but if you were to visit WordPress.org vs this site you have to say the differences are pretty vast.
Wordpress presents a plugin with a concise plugin page
Documentation is tabbed from that plugin page so you don't have to search forms.
Documentation provides the user with a simple description with features
and then implementation information as necessary in a standardized way.
Questions can be submitted directly to the plugin author from the plugin page.
Code is maintained on wordpress.org servers
Now even they have something to be desired they don't require authors to maintain archives of their plugins so people can jump back a version or even just look at the code as it progressed to see how a plugin is developed over time. This is very important for new developers to see how it started .. the steps and fixes .. the latest code... it lets people not only harvest code to use in a different project that needs a feature such as an API Call .. it lets people see the progression of skills.. the problems that resulted in bugs.. and so on.
I don't know that Kodi.tv wants to take on an archive of all plugins because of costs but its not a bad idea to consider and if not then the core should archive all plugins no matter the source just for reference even if not available to the public.. and find an archive site or a few sites that can act as mirrors. Require that plugins be maintained or available through required archive sites... how am i saying this.. if you don't require upload to kodi.tv then.. Kodi.tv picks a list of acceptable archive sites you know wont go down. but also keep a non public archive for backup in case it does.
Lets face it for many reasons developers disappear. They could have financial or health issues.. they could have just lost interest or felt unappreciated.. or found something better to do with their time.. like drinking.. whatever the reason their contribution should be preserved not only for end users.. not only for the core .. but also out of respect.. Someone takes a month or six months or a couple years to develop code and as this project progresses that contribution should be preserved even if their contribution is deprecated due to code changes or other reasons.
DOCUMENTATION
This is really difficult because of the variety of different types of documentation that needs to exist.
Plugin developers should have rules as to how they present their projects but it should be through an interface that allows them to do it with no other option. Simply have them submit a form that generates everything and then present that to the visitor.
Core Documentation should be laid out in a way that is easy to manage and contribute to.
This should also be done through forms to require specific information to be submitted and then it should be reviewed.
It should include not only end user but developer documentation needed to build projects.
A list should be formed by the core team and suggestions by others. The list should start with what is available now and what should be submitted later and that way a contributor can go through the requested documentation list and say.. hey i know about that.. then submit it.
...........
I hope that you consider this and more. Take a strong look at how other projects are maintained and how they maintain their documentation, code, and contributed plugins.
Emulate the good and discard the bad.
In this way end users will find it easier to use the product and find available plugins to extend it.
Developers will have a stable method of contributing and also finding code from other authors.
Code that is open source and publicly available will be aggregated and people whether end users or developers won't have to rely on third party websites that may have been taken down by the author for any reason.
The idea is to optimize what you have and then leverage every persons contribution to allow further contribution.
This is what Microsoft did early on when they released access to their API while Apple never did.
If Kodi wants to end up a CellPhone App then maybe they should follow Apple's direction and lock down the code or let it be so randomly maintained that it is unusable.. that people spend days trying to find a solution to an obvious problem rather than minutes.
anyway .. take this with a grain of salt
I only wrote this because I want the best for this project... I am also leaving tons of stuff out that i wish i could suggest because this is too much as it is...
Your application and all of the plugin developers and others in the community are doing heroic work when it comes to helping people cut the cord and move to antenna and streaming ... which most likely is the future of entertainment... but it is saving people a lot of money that can be used for food or other utility bills.. or just beer... heh i don't drink..
And I know you guys are busy .. you have lives.. and often its somethings that you want to get to but never can.
But like a Mechanic its best to have all of your tools maintained in an orderly fashion.. or as a customer waits you find yourself digging through piles of stuff just to find the right wrench...
Checkout codex.wordpress.org and take some of their ideas on maintaining code and documentation..
And don't take this as offensive or a putdown .. do it because you want to grow..
and this is really the best time to do it..
best wishes
from an end user.
