[openfabrics-ewg] Getting EWG off to a rapid and positive start

[Bryan O'Sullivan]

Hello -

I'll be PathScale's engineering and testing representative on the EWG.

I would suggest that we start by clarifying the goals of the EWG
process, so that everyone is in sync.

My principal interest is in ensuring that there is no duplicated or
wasted effort between the 1.0 process and the EWG process, and that each
can proceed at its own appropriate pace with maximal cooperation between
the two.

What I believe is a good way to achieve this is as follows.

Somebody needs to articulate the goals of the EWG process, and the
timeline in which it will take place.  Here are some suggestions I have.

      * The existence of EWG should be made public on openib-general,
        and it must be made clear that there is cooperation, not
        duplication, between the 1.0 and EWG processes.
      * Which software components are included?
      * Which hardware components are intended to work?
      * Which distros are targeted?
      * What is the test matrix?
      * What documentation will be written up for customers?
      * How long is the support window?
      * What's the policy with respect to switching to the official 1.0
        and subsequent releases?

To get the testing and defect fixing balls rolling as quickly as
possible, EWG contributors ought to use the 1.0 release candidate tree
at https://openib.org/svn/gen2/branches/1.0/ as its initial basis for
source code to build and test.  You can download source tarballs and
some RPM packages from http://openib.red-bean.com/

It's fine with me if EWG branches from 1.0 so that it can proceed at its
own pace.  However, if this happens, there must be frequent merges
between the two trees, because clearly everything that happens in one
branch ought to be beneficial to the other.

The mechanism that EWG uses to track defects should be OpenIB Bugzilla.
I believe it's already configured in an appropriate manner.  If not, I
will be happy to make any needed changes, or ask our colleagues at
Sandia to help out.

	<b