[dev] Horde needs you!

[Jan Schneider]

As explained in my previous mail, we currently have a break in Horde 
development.

We started release cycles for the x.1 versions of most stable 
applications, namely Horde 3.1, IMP 4.1, Turba 2.1, Ingo 1.1, Kronolith 
2.1, Nag 2.1, and Mnemo 2.1. Getting the code for these versions stable 
is a lot of work and some of the core developers will focus on other 
areas of development in the next few weeks.

Thus we need any hand willing to help, *especially* from 
non-developers! This is a good time to contribute to the project if you 
always wanted to but never had the developing skills to do so.

1) Testing
It's new code, so it has a lot of bugs. Help testing the new versions 
using CVS checkouts or snapshots, find bugs, check if they don't exist 
in the bugs database (http://bugs.horde.org) yet, describe them as 
detailed as possible. If you can, try to track the bugs down in the 
code as deep as possible. Try to describe exact steps to reproduce the 
problem.
You can also help improving existing bug reports, doing the same as 
mentioned above.

2) Backward Compatibility
Run cross-version tests to see if all code is still backward 
compatible. That means, run the new applications with a Horde 3.0.x 
install, or Horde 3.1 with older application versions.

3) Documention
Read the available documentation, check if it is still correct. See if 
you can improve it or if something is missing or unclear. Most 
documentation can be found in the modules' docs/ directories, but the 
help files in locale/en_US/help.xml are important too.
Browse through the wiki (http://wiki.horde.org) looking for outdated 
infomation, e.g. in the FAQ.

4) Upgrading
Check if upgrading instructions are correct and complete. Most of it is 
probably missing yet. Describe steps that were necessary to upgrade 
your own installations to the newer versions. Contribute upgrade 
scripts, for database updates or data migration, if necessary.

5) Community
Help other users with problems on the mailing list. The more we 
developers can concentrate on the code, the sooner we will have stable 
versions.

There are probably several other areas where you can help out, other 
developers, please chime in.

Thanks for making Horde better, Jan.

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