3 ms·

Hey, so I'm the very part time volunteer sysadmin for LibriVox, can I use this opportunity to ask for help? I have a day job and two kids, the amount of time a

Hey, so I'm the very part time volunteer sysadmin for LibriVox, can I use this opportunity to ask for help? I have a day job and two kids, the amount of time and energy I give to LibriVox is sufficient to keep the lights on, but not much else. We don't have money, in fact we don't even have a legal entity, any donations we get are handled by Internet Archive, who also kindly provide us our two servers (yes, only two). If you want to help and know PHP and CodeIgniter, we'd be very happy to have you on board! While I am a developper, it's currently Python, and not at all web related. LibriVox's tech sack has fallen woefully out of date (PH 5.6, CodeIgniter 2), and I can't bring it up to date all by my self. I'll be honest, it's not glamorous work. There's no automated testing, anything we change has to be tested and validated by the volunteers themselves - who are awesome, by the way. But we're a fantastic little nugget of Internet, and I think we should stick around on a solid tech stack for as long as possible ;) All of our code is on GitHub: https://github.com/LibriVox/ https://github.com/LibriVox/

mushufasa 6y ago
Ah, I was actually browsing the volunteer page just now looking for a github link to contribute code or at least html/css. I also am using python for work, not PHP. Does LibriVox plan to continue maintaining the current PHP codebase via a major version upgrade, or are you hoping to just do a rewrite in a more easily maintainable manner?
- louniks 6y ago
  If someone's willing to put in the time to redo our code in Python, I wouldn't be opposed to that. However, keep in mind that it'd be a massive undertaking. Last time we re-wrote our apps, it took a full-time developer multiple months. Admittedly, everything was brand new, and included collecting requirements and validating the prototypes with the volunteers. So perhaps a "simple" rewrite, keeping all the logic the same, wouldn't be so hard. Also keep in mind - a good chunk of the volunteers aren't tech-savvy, and are nervous when faced with changes. Just upgrading to a new phpBB version, with a new theme, was met with some grumbles. I realize I'm a horrible salesman, but something about LibriVox just keeps me involved. I don't even participate in the audiobooks aspect of it, just tech. I was initially brought on as a paid sysadmin as part of that project to modernize our code that took that full-time developer months. When that ended, I stuck around as a volunteer.
  - Moru 6y ago
    If it's based on CodeIgniter it should be pretty maintainable already. The documentation of each version has detailed instructions how to upgrade the code to get up to speed with the new version up to CI 3. CI 4 is however a complete rewrite and needs a lot of work I guess but I haven't gotten that far yet. CI 4 requires latest version of PHP.
eXpl0it3r 6y ago
While checking out the project on GitHub I noticed that you're using GerritHub for reviews and made me wonder whether this is holding back some people from contributing. Not that it's bad in anyway, but I assume it's something a lot of people are unfamiliar with and the description of how to use it for the project is very limited, plus work in progress isn't directly visible as PR on GitHub. Additionally, you mention in the CONTRIBUTING.md that there's a Google doc with a lot of issues listed that should be converted to GitHub issues. Where does one find that Google doc?
- louniks 6y ago
  I'm not married to Gerrit, and I concede that it could be a hurdle. It's what I use for my day job, so I chose it out of laziness and familiarity more than anything else. I'll probably drop it, and learn the GitHub PR tools and workflow - I've gotten a few random PRs already. Edit: I'll talk to the volunteers about making that Google doc public, good suggestion.
  - eXpl0it3r 6y ago
    I think one can go either way, but the important part is that it's clear to those willing to contribute. I think explaining a bit more how Gerrit reviews work and who is actually reviewing them, would already help, and maybe adding a link to the README, so it's easier discoverable. Cool, I wouldn't mind copying/creating a bunch of issues on the side.
    - louniks 6y ago
      Done. https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-catalog/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-catalog/blob/master/CON... Have fun, and many thanks! (I'll try to make time this weekend to drop GerritHub as well, and convert what I currently have there to PRs)
mobilio 6y ago
Even WordPress theme is little bit outdated...

mushufasa 6y ago

Ah, I was actually browsing the volunteer page just now looking for a github link to contribute code or at least html/css. I also am using python for work, not PHP. Does LibriVox plan to continue maintaining the current PHP codebase via a major version upgrade, or are you hoping to just do a rewrite in a more easily maintainable manner?

louniks 6y ago
If someone's willing to put in the time to redo our code in Python, I wouldn't be opposed to that. However, keep in mind that it'd be a massive undertaking. Last time we re-wrote our apps, it took a full-time developer multiple months. Admittedly, everything was brand new, and included collecting requirements and validating the prototypes with the volunteers. So perhaps a "simple" rewrite, keeping all the logic the same, wouldn't be so hard. Also keep in mind - a good chunk of the volunteers aren't tech-savvy, and are nervous when faced with changes. Just upgrading to a new phpBB version, with a new theme, was met with some grumbles. I realize I'm a horrible salesman, but something about LibriVox just keeps me involved. I don't even participate in the audiobooks aspect of it, just tech. I was initially brought on as a paid sysadmin as part of that project to modernize our code that took that full-time developer months. When that ended, I stuck around as a volunteer.
- Moru 6y ago
  If it's based on CodeIgniter it should be pretty maintainable already. The documentation of each version has detailed instructions how to upgrade the code to get up to speed with the new version up to CI 3. CI 4 is however a complete rewrite and needs a lot of work I guess but I haven't gotten that far yet. CI 4 requires latest version of PHP.

eXpl0it3r 6y ago

While checking out the project on GitHub I noticed that you're using GerritHub for reviews and made me wonder whether this is holding back some people from contributing. Not that it's bad in anyway, but I assume it's something a lot of people are unfamiliar with and the description of how to use it for the project is very limited, plus work in progress isn't directly visible as PR on GitHub. Additionally, you mention in the CONTRIBUTING.md that there's a Google doc with a lot of issues listed that should be converted to GitHub issues. Where does one find that Google doc?

louniks 6y ago
I'm not married to Gerrit, and I concede that it could be a hurdle. It's what I use for my day job, so I chose it out of laziness and familiarity more than anything else. I'll probably drop it, and learn the GitHub PR tools and workflow - I've gotten a few random PRs already. Edit: I'll talk to the volunteers about making that Google doc public, good suggestion.
- eXpl0it3r 6y ago
  I think one can go either way, but the important part is that it's clear to those willing to contribute. I think explaining a bit more how Gerrit reviews work and who is actually reviewing them, would already help, and maybe adding a link to the README, so it's easier discoverable. Cool, I wouldn't mind copying/creating a bunch of issues on the side.
  - louniks 6y ago
    Done. https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-catalog/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md https://github.com/LibriVox/librivox-catalog/blob/master/CON... Have fun, and many thanks! (I'll try to make time this weekend to drop GerritHub as well, and convert what I currently have there to PRs)

mobilio 6y ago

Even WordPress theme is little bit outdated...