GSoC 2019 [Collect build statistics]

[Mojca Miklavec]

On Fri, 8 Mar 2019 at 15:45, Arjun Salyan wrote:
>
> I do not understand : "perhaps include some basic functionality to allow checking for build reproducibility".
>
> Please help me with that 'build reproducibility' point

Others sent you some links about what build reproducibility is, please
ask if that's not clear.

What we could do is let users opt-in to submit more info about their
own builds. The most basic way would be to calculate the checksum (on
the buildbot) of the compressed collection of files installed, and
store that checksum in the database. Then users could submit their own
build results and include the checksum from their own builds. If the
checksums match, fine. If they don't, this could be reported, but it
would be nice to know more about why the mismatch, and this is
something that needs further analysis / ideas etc.

As an example: software might include the build date into one of the
installed files. This makes the build non-reproducible since the exact
contents of the installed package depend on when the software was
built. Such cases need to be discovered and fixed.

Build reproducibility is important to assure that compiler or any
other components didn't get compromised.

> and also how do I plan from here (I know Django, but I am still learning about MacPorts)?

I'm not exactly sure what your question is. Are you looking for
suggestions about what to learn next, about what to do next, ...?

The best way to learn about MacPorts is to start playing with it,
install a bunch of your favourite software packages, install the
"mpstats" port and figure out how it works, set up a local files
repository with a git clone of macports-ports
(https://guide.macports.org/chunked/development.local-repositories.html)
and try to modify some port, install the modified version etc. ... I
assume you do have a Mac?

We will ask every GSOC candidate to prove that they are capable of
implementing the idea. Most projects ask for PRs. In the case of this
Django app it probably makes sense to come up with a proof-of-concept
demo (ideally including documentation about how to set it up and
running, and either screenshot or hyperlink). Tcl is not the core of
the project, but it helps to know some of it, so that you can also add
the missing fields to the client.

Mojca