RoAkSoAx’s Weblog

This week’s update brings:

TestDrive GTK Front-end

• Minor bugfixes and UI Improvements.
• Support to work with ISOs on the Ubuntu Releases repo (http://releases.ubuntu.com)
• Other ISOs: Add list to UI, to display all the available Other ISO’s. Thanks to this, there’s also support to delete ISO’s in the list.
• Preferences: Improve selection of Ubuntu Release, as well as be able to select Repository from which to Obtain the ISOs.

Unfortunately, these new changes are not yet available in the PPA given that I’m merging the TestDrive Front-end source with TestDrive’s source and new packages will become available in the next couple days to start the Testing, in preparation to the upload to Maverick. So, stay tuned.

This week’s update brings:

TestDrive

• Improvements on handling the syncing protocols.
• Changes that were necessary to provide VirtualBox and Parallels Threading for the Front-end.
• [kirkland] Change for KVM video mode from vmware back to cirrus.

TestDrive GTK Front-end

• Threading: Support has been added for threading using VirtualBox, however, it still needs improvements. For now, it will be a little bit slow.
• Other ISOs: Support for other ISO’s has been added, which means that now we are able to TestDrive ISO’s from other distributions by specifying the URL of the ISO. Also supports local ISO’s. Currently it only supports the addition of ISOs. In the near future, it will support the erasing as well.
• Maverick: There’s a build now available for maverick at TestDrive PyGTK PPA (see below).

If you would like to test the new release in maverick or lucid please do the following:

Adding PPAs:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive/ppa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive-gtk/ppa
sudo apt-get update

Installation:

sudo apt-get install testdrive testdrive-gtk

If you would like to keep track of the project, please refer to the following:

• Wikipage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend
• Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-maverick-testdrive-frontend-gsoc
• Testing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend/Testing

You can also find me (RoAkSoAx) and my mentor (Dustin Kirkland – kirkland) on IRC at:

• IRC Channel: #testdrive

This is something I wanted to share with you all. I find it so much fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEVU-YLpM8A
:

UPDATE: A new TestDrive release and new demo for TestDrive PyGTK have been released, included all the features detailed here. If you wish to give it a try, just install the packages as described below:

Adding PPAs:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive/ppa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive-gtk/ppa
sudo apt-get update

Installation:

sudo apt-get install testdrive testdrive-gtk

Please note that the GTK is only available for Lucid. Soon it will be available for maverick.

This week’s updates are:

TestDrive

• Changes have been made in the settings file in such way that now the settings are organized in different sections that will be used for the different TestDrive’s UI’s. Example: There’s now a common section which both UI’s load settings, a section for testdrive itself and a section for testdrive-gtk.
• XDG BaseDirectory support has been added to place TestDrive’s cache.

TestDrive PyGTK

• File -> Open: Now you can open an ISO or an IMG and run it with TestDrive. This will simply run “testdrive – u <file>”.
• Sync Button Added: The Sync button has been added to be able to Sync the ISO’s without having to launch them after being synced.
• Launch Previously Cached ISOs: Given that a Sync button has been added, now launching an ISO in a VM will no longer try to sync the ISO first by default. This allows us to launch previously cached ISOs, without having to Sync right before launching.
• Threading: Now TestDrive PyGTK Supports syncing multiple ISO’s at the same time, which also fixes the UI blocking seen in the demo released last week. Work is in progress to provide the same feature when launching the ISO’s in a VM, however, for now, this will be limited only to KVM.

The new demo release with threading for both, syncing and launching ISO’s will be released in the next couple of days, so stay tunned.

If you would like to see other sketches and keep track of the project, please refer to the following:

• Wikipage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend
• Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-maverick-testdrive-frontend-gsoc
• Testing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend/Testing

You can also find me (RoAkSoAx) and my mentor (Dustin Kirkland – kirkland) on IRC at:

• IRC Channel: #testdrive

This week’s updates are:

TestDrive

• Couple of bugfixes has been released and a new TestDrive has been uploaded to both, Maverick archives and TestDrive PPA (ppa:testdrive/ppa)
• The next to be done in TestDrive is add support for ISO’s in releases.ubuntu.com.

TestDrive PyGTK

A TestDrive PyGTK Demo has been Released!!!

Current Status

• The Front-end still does not support Launching of Multiple ISO’s at the same time.
• The way how preferences are handled has been rewritten completely.
• Minor UI Improvements have been done.
• Preferences are not fully functional just yet but most of them work.

Work to be done
This week work will be concentrated in:

• Look into provide Threading to TestDrive PyGTK Front-end to allow multiple ISO’s to be launched at the same time.
• Continue with the improvement of the Preferences Dialog.
• The source of TestDrive PyGTK will be released soon.

TestDrive PyGTK Front-end DEMO!
A Front-end DEMO is now available to install for lucid users. Please notice that the Front-end is only a demo and still contains lots of bugs. Now to be able to have it working we need to install both testdrive and testdrive-gtk packages from PPAs. The reason is because the sourcing of config files used on testdrive-gtk is still the same that testdrive uses for conventional reasons. This will be changed soon. To be able to install do the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive/ppa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive-gtk/ppa
sudo apt-get update

Installation:

sudo apt-get install testdrive testdrive-gtk

Once it is installed, you can launch it at: Applications > System Tools > TestDrive GTK Front-end. Notice that TestDrive PyGTK Front-end will default to Ubuntu ISOs only. To enable other Ubuntu Flavors please go to Edit > Preferences > Distributions, enable the desired ones (i.e Kubuntu), and press Save.

NOTE: When syncing an ISO the Main UI gets blocked. This main UI will get unblocked once TestDrive has finished syncing the ISO. This will be fixed when Threading is implemented, which will allow to run other processes at the same time, and will not block the main UI.

If you would like to see other sketches and keep track of the project, please refer to the following:

• Wikipage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend
• Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-maverick-testdrive-frontend-gsoc
• Testing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend/Testing

You can also find me (RoAkSoAx) and my mentor (Dustin Kirkland – kirkland) on IRC at:

• IRC Channel: #testdrive

Unfortunately, last week I was unable to provide an update due to I was busy with personal stuff. Anyways this weeks update brings new things to TestDrive and TestDrive PyGTK Front-end.

TestDrive
A new version was released around a week ago with the following features:

• Support for different Ubuntu Flavors of the current Development Release daily ISO. These flavors are ubuntu (default and includes Ubuntu Server and Ubuntu Netbook) – kubuntu (Includes Kubuntu Netbook) – xubuntu – edubuntu – mythbuntu – ubuntustudio. To change flavor, you can either edit the config file to set the default or do the following:

testdrive --flavor kubuntu
testdrive --flavor edubuntu

• Support for older Ubuntu Releases which ISO’s are in http://cdimage.ubuntu.com (Currently Hardy, Lucid DVD, and Maverick of course). However in the future it will support ISO’s that are located at https://releases.ubuntu.com

testdrive --release hardy
testdrive --release lucid

The latest release is in Maverick repo’s, however, for those who are running lucid and want to try it out, you can find it at TestDrive’s PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:testdrive/ppa

TestDrive PyGTK:

• The PyGTK Front-end already had support for Different Ubuntu Flavors.
• It now also supports older Ubuntu Releases by setting them on the preferences.

New features that are currently on work:

• Preferences dialog that will allow to manipulate TestDrive’s PyGTK Preferences from the dialogs seen as follows:

In the next few weeks, the work will be concentrated on:

• A demo of TestDrive PyGTK Front-end will be packaged and released later this week.
• Finish the work on the Preferences Dialog.
• Support for launching multiple TestDrives at the same time using python threads.
• Improve the UI

If you would like to see other sketches and keep track of the project, please refer to the following:

• Wikipage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend
• Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-maverick-testdrive-frontend-gsoc
• Testing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend/Testing

You can also find me (RoAkSoAx) and my mentor (Dustin Kirkland – kirkland) on IRC at:

• IRC Channel: #testdrive

This weeks update for the Testdrive PyGTK Front-end GSoC2010 project brings two new things. The first thing is that the UI presented last week has changed and now Testdrive PyGTK Front-End looks like this:

The second thing is a new feature, which is that now Testdrive (and Testdrive PyGTK Front-end) has now support for various Ubuntu Flavors!! YaY!! This means that now Kubuntu/Xubuntu/UbuntuStudio/Mythbuntu/Edubuntu users will be able to testdrive their daily ISO’s from both Testdrive and Testdrive PyGTK Front-end. However, some final touches are still necessary. A new version of Testdrive will be released soon (by the end of the week) in both maverick archives and Testdrive PPA. Furthermore, Testdrive PyGTK Front-end will also be packaged and released soon for testing.

If you have any suggestions/comments/appreciations please feel free to drop a comment, or send us an e-mail (Both my mentor Dustin Kirkland and me).

If you would like to see other sketches and keep track of the project, please refer to the following:

• Wikipage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend
• Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-maverick-testdrive-frontend-gsoc
• Testing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend/Testing

You can also find me (RoAkSoAx) and my mentor (Dustin Kirkland – kirkland) on IRC at:

• IRC Channel: #testdrive

As part of this years GSoC2010, I’ll be working on getting a PyGTK Front-end for Testdrive. The work to be done is separated in three main phases.

1. The first phase is to modularize testdrive to be able to reuse the code for the front-ends.
2. The second phase is to actually implement a first PyGTK front-end for testdrive, providing the same functionality as it testdrive does.
3. The third step, is to implement some new features.

Phase 1, has already been completed, because I actually started working in modularizing Testdrive over a month ago. Phase 2, is now in progress and starting soon, i’ll launch it periodically for testing purposes. Phase 3, will begin as soon as phase 2 is completed.

Some of the features that will be implemented were discussed during the Session we had at the last UDS. During the last UDS we not only discussed desired features, but also I prepared some UI sketches. Right now, after a couple days on working on it and getting familiarized with PyGTK, Testdrive Front-end looks like this:

If someone from the Desktop Team/Design Team has suggestions, please do so. They are very much appreciated. If you would like to see other sketches and keep track of the project, please refer to the following:

• Wikipage: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend
• Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/testdrive/+spec/desktop-maverick-testdrive-frontend-gsoc
• Testing: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TestdriveFrontend/Testing

You can also find me (RoAkSoAx) and my mentor (Dustin Kirkland – kirkland) on IRC at:

• IRC Channel: #testdrive

If you have any other suggestions, please do so .

As you all know, this year Ubuntu is Participating in the Google Summer of Code 2010. One of the projects that have been selected this year is TestDrive Front-End, which it is obviously the project I am going to work on. The mentor of this project is Dustin Kirkland, and we all know why .

The objective of this project is to create a PyGTK Front-end for Testdrive. However, it is not quite that. This project will consist of two main phases. The first phase is to modularize the actual code of TestDrive to separate the Command Line UI with the back-end code to make it reusable. The second phase is the design/implementation of the PyGTK GUI.

The first phase has already began few weeks ago due to I wanted to start working on it, and it should be finished by the UDS. On the other hand, and for the second phase, (and as per Dustin’s recommendations) I’ll try to hold a session at UDS. I’ll keep you guys updated on how the project is going. For all of those who are interested on contributing to TestDrive, please feel free to contribute *after* the GSoC.

Anyways, these are exciting moments and I really look forward to work with Dustin.

Zenoss (Network Monitoring and IT Management tool) has been running with Python2.4 for quite a while now, making it impossible to be run in a few Ubuntu releases. However, this has now changed. Few days ago they announced the migration of Zenoss to Python 2.6. Please see the announcement here.

If you wish to help testing, you can refer to this Ubuntu Installation Notes, or do the following:

First we need to install the necessary dependencies:

$ sudo apt-get install rsync python-dev build-essential make bzip2 sudo sysv-rc-conf snmpd swig autoconf mysql-server-5.0 libmysqlclient15-dev libmysqlclient15off ttf-liberation ttf-linux-libertine unzip subversion librrd4

Second, we need to create the zenoss user, and create the destination path with the right permissions:

$ sudo adduser zenoss
$ sudo mkdir /usr/local/zenoss
$ sudo chown zenoss /usr/local/zenoss

Third, we need to configure the environment for zenoss user. So, we need first to log in as the zenoss user:

$ sudo -i -u zenoss

export ZENHOME=/usr/local/zenoss
export PYTHONPATH=$ZENHOME/lib/python
export PATH=$ZENHOME/bin:$PATH

$ source .bashrc

Fourth, we obtain the trunk while logged into the zenoss user:

$ svn co http://dev.zenoss.org/svn/trunk/inst zenossinst

$ cd zenossinst
$ ./install.sh