How is development on Linuxcnc structured

With all the changes going on how computers are built, I was wondering, how is linuxcnc being developed?

I think there is a very active user base that is very helpful to other users. But is the current structure future proof? I mean, is development supported by a group of people that is future proof, ie more than a group of old geezers dong their thing? (I do not know their age but I do think that it is benifitial to any development to have a blended group working on it)

I don't actually know for sure the ages of the developers. I'm 41 - is that an old geezer?

There has been discussion about the development process of linuxcnc, one being how to entice more people to the project.
One of the current popular ideas is to pull HAL out of linuxcnc so it could be used standalone in other projects.
Also the work to port linuxcnc to the beagleboard and other realtime kernels to broaden appeal and broaden the control applications (eg not just cnc milling machines)
Ultimately we may be able to get linuxcnc or HAL standalone to be included in a distribution like Debian.

I hope that somewhat answers your question.

Chris M

Yep, it does.

In reading the answer I remembered that at some point I tried to find out how to translate the interface in to Dutch. That would be the kind of contribution I could make and would broaden the user base.

The only answer I got in a forum was that I should try contacting someone through IRC (I think). I don't have a clue as to what irc is and how to use it, nor do I have a desire to find out.

I'm not saying that it is necessarily bad to use channels that might not be used by everyone uses but if you want to develop things it should be easy to get involved. For me the IRC thing seemed a bit of ivory tower like.

The overall impression for me is that the things that I would like to do are impossible to get info on. And sure, that is just because it is hard to structure information on an open source project. It will depend on someone or a group willing to put some weight behind it.

I am more than willing to get involved but just do not know how.

Are there any "job openings" that can be viewed? And the other way around, is there a place where someone can post his ideas on specific tasks he'd like to take on?

The three ways to communicate officially in linuxcnc is the forum, the maillist and IRC ( Internet Relay Chat - like instant messaging )
Each has there good and bad points. I can't type fast so don't like IRC - but it gets you answers fast.
maillist is probably the broadest audience but the answers take longer.
The forum is not followed by most of the 'core' developers.

To answer your question related to translation as best i can:
you need to download the source code with GIT.
in the the folder /src/po are translation files.
there is a read me:

Note for translators of the pot files:
======================================

Make a copy of the pot file renaming it to reflect the language it is
being translated in to. For example, for a German translation of linuxcnc.pot,
your working file would be de.po - If the file does not exist within
the source repository, then create one from the linuxcnc.pot template:
cp linuxcnc.pot de.pot

To update a language's .po file from its .pot file, use the "msgmerge" command.
Because doing this needlessly creates lots of uneeded revisions of the
.po files in the history, this is not done automatically by "make".
Instead, it is done by explicitly executing "make pofiles". This must be
done from time to time in order to make new messages available for translation
in the experimental "weblate" interface.

If you are working by hand, you can also update just a single pofile:
msgmerge -U xx.po linuxcnc.pot

When you are done, "git commit" the new .po file. If you have push access,
"git push". Otherwise, format your changes as a patch with "git format-patch"
and send it to the emc-developers mailing list.

Experimental "weblate" web interface
====================================

There's an experimental web interface for translating linuxcnc:
l10n.unpythonic.net/


Graphical tools for editing .po files
=====================================
On Dapper there seem to be two graphical front-ends for editing .po files:
gtranslator (a part of the Gnome desktop) and kbabel (part of KDE).


Required versions of xgettext and msgmerge
==========================================
Configure tries to detect several problems with xgettext and msgmerge.
Version 0.14.5 is known to work properly.

(The experimental web interface is not available anymore - I am pretty sure.)
Then you would submit a GIT patch to the maillist.
This gives more detail - other then the file to change are out of date:
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Translation

There is no 'job openings' you pretty much work on what you are interested in.
Signing up to be added to the developers maillist would be a good first step:
lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-developers

Chris M

Ah, ok. Have worked with .po files for websites, that part is pretty clear.

Looked in to git for a bit, that is confusing. The wiki page mentions not to install "Git" but use "git-core" instead. Then in synaptic "git-core" is mentioned to be obsolete as "git-core" was renamed to "git"

I'll open another thread on using git for development.