Launchpod episode 3: new Launchpad release and Terminator
Published by Matthew Revell May 30, 2008 in Podcast
Launchpod: the Launchpad team podcast! The latest from the Launchpad developers, questions from Launchpad users and stories from people who’ve found Launchpad useful.
Hosts: Matthew Revell, Joey Stanford and Elliot Murphy.
Theme: Obscurity by Barry Warsaw.
- 01.33: Interview with Aaron Bentley, of the Launchpad Bazaar integration team, talking about Launchpad’s new code merger proposal review system.
- 07.05: Interview with Danilo Segan, of the the Launchpad Translations team, talking about the new translations search feature.
- 10.21: Interview with Chris Jones, leader of the Terminator terminal project..
- 16.18: Joey’s number of the week! How many projects are registered in Launchpad?
Send us your ideas and questions to feedback@launchpad.net!
Launchpad 1.2.5: code merger reviews and translations search
Published by Matthew Revell in Releases
The Launchpad team is proud to announce the 29th May 2008 release of Launchpad 1.2.5!
New features in this release include:
- voting and commenting on code branch mergers
- new Launchpad-wide search
- and translations search!
Read on for more about what’s new and how it affects you.
Vote and comment on proposed branch mergers
Launchpad’s merge proposals are a great way for project contributors to get their code considered for inclusion in the main line.
Now, branch owners – and anyone else who’s interested – can vote and comment on merge proposals.
Aaron Bentley, who’s been working on the feature, says:
“These changes make it easy to discuss and tweak proposed changes to a branch. You can browse the branch which contains the changes then comment and vote directly on what you’ve seen.”
Comments build into a threaded conversation about the branch. You can also vote either on the branch as whole, or use custom tags to apply your vote to a specific aspect of the work.
Take a look at one of the first branch merger comments.
This is just the start for this feature. Keep an eye on future Launchpad releases!
Launchpad-wide search
Want to find something in Launchpad quickly? Our new site-wide search looks for results right across Launchpad – in bug reports, branch descriptions, people, teams, projects, blueprints and more.
Try it out using the search box at the top-right of most Launchpad pages or on the dedicated search page.
Translations search
Finding typos or untranslated strings in translation files is now far easier, thanks to Launchpad’s new translations search!
Right now, you can search for a word or phrase within a particular translation file.
You’ll find the translation search box towards the top-right of translation file pages. As an example, take a look at the French translations page for WordPress.
Other changes this month
- Packages now have an estimated build start time. Pick a package from Ubuntu’s pending queue to see an example.
- You now have the option of automatically subscribing to a team’s mailing list at the same time as joining the team. Edit your subscription options.
For full details of the bug fixes and features that make up this release, take a look at the 1.2.5 milestone page.
Launchpad podcast
Each week we’re producing a Launchpad team podcast, called Launchpod! In it we interview people who are doing cool things with Launchpad and talk to Launchpad developers about what they’ve been working on.
If you’ve got a question about Launchpad, let us have it and we’ll answer in the podcast. Post your questions on the podcast’s wiki page.
Subscribe to the podcast feed.
Stay in touch!
Thanks for your bug reports, feature ideas and other feedback! If you come across any bugs please report them.
If you want to get in touch for any other reason, such as with ideas for our new podcast, join us in #launchpad or on launchpad-users. See our Feedback page for details.
There’ll be more in Launchpad 1.2.6 at the end of June!
Translations searching
Published by Matthew Revell May 29, 2008 in Cool new stuff, Translations
If you translate using Launchpad, you’ll almost certainly be delighted to read that you can now search for translations!
Take a look at the English (UK) translations for WordPress. There are two search boxes. One at the very top-right of the page: that’s Launchpad’s new site-wide search. Below that, still on the right, is the translation search box.
Using the translations search box, you can search for a word or phrase as it appears in either the original English template or the language you’re currently viewing.
I had a chat with Jeroen Vermuelen, leader of the Launchpad Translations team, to ask about the work that has gone into the feature. He told me:
“This is something that people have wanted for a long time and the new translations search is the result of work we’ve been doing for the past year. We could have done it sooner but we wanted to do it right.
“When you’re searching as much data as we have in Launchpad Translations – around 16 million strings – you have to take the right approach to ensure results are accurate and timely.
“So, this is just what the doctor ordered for translators who are managing a particular translation and want to be able to tweak a specific message quickly.”
Package diffs
Published by Matthew Revell in Cool new stuff
You can now view diffs for source packages in boths PPAs and Ubuntu’s primary archive.
Celso Providelo, the Launchpad developer who’s been working on this, told me a bit more about it:
“This is a really easy way for anyone to see what changes have been made in a package. Rather than having to download a source package and then manually run a diff, diffs are available directly from Launchpad.
“So, if you want to double-check a source package’s changelog, this is a great way to do it. Whether it’s in a PPA or the primary Ubuntu archive, it allows anyone to check for mistakes. Another really cool thing is that if somebody uploads a package to their PPA and it is derived from something already in Ubuntu, Launchpad provides a diff between the published Ubuntu package and the version in the PPA.
“Ppackage diffs are available for packages uploaded since 01.30 UTC on 29th May.”
Global search
Published by Matthew Revell in Cool new stuff
No matter how good a website’s interface, when you’re dealing with as much data as there is in Launchpad, search can be the simplest way to get what you need.
Thanks to work by my colleagues Francis Lacoste, Curtis Hovey and Maris Fogels, you can now search through all of Launchpad from a single search box.
This new site-wide search goes into people profiles, code branch information, bug reports, questions, blueprints, project information and more.
Try it: you’ll find the search box at the top right of most Launchpad pages and on its own dedicated page too.
It works just as you’d expect: wrap words in quotes to search for an exact phrase, discount a word by placing a minus sign in front of it, and so on.
Let us know how you get on.
Update: Search links now fixed.
Offline 01.00 – 03.00 UTC 29th May 2008
Published by Matthew Revell May 28, 2008 in Notifications
Launchpad will be offline for two hours from 01.00 UTC on 29th May 2008, while we roll out Launchpad 1.2.5.
Offline: 01.00 UTC
Expected back: 03.00 UTC
Subscribe to this blog to find out what’s new in 1.2.5.
Launchpod on last.fm
Published by Matthew Revell May 23, 2008 in General
Launchpod’s now up on the fantastic last.fm.
Help us look like we’re the cool kids in town by listening to Launchpod in a player that supports scrobbling đŸ™‚
Take a look at the Launchpad team artist page.
Launchpod episode 2: UDS Prague
Published by Matthew Revell May 21, 2008 in Podcast
Launchpod: the Launchpad team podcast! The latest from the Launchpad developers, questions from Launchpad users and stories from people who’ve found Launchpad useful.
Hosts: Matthew Revell, Joey Stanford and Elliot Murphy.
Theme: Obscurity by Barry Warsaw.
- 01.20: Interview with Graham Binns, of the Launchpad Bug Tracker team, who is in Prague for the Ubuntu Developer Summit. Graham talks about working with the Ubuntu QA team to improve their experience of Launchpad.
- 08.45: Interview with Jono Lange, of the the Launchad-Bazaar integration team, also in Prague. He talks about what’s coming up in Launchpad for managing Ubuntu packages as Bazaar branches.
- 14.04: Best practice for registering a project in Launchpad.
- 15.35: Hosting branches on Launchpad without associating them with a particular project. Help page on +junk branches.
Send us your ideas and questions to feedback@launchpad.net!
Launchpod episode 1: RescueTime
Published by Matthew Revell May 19, 2008 in Podcast
Launchpod: the Launchpad team podcast! The latest from the Launchpad developers, questions from Launchpad users and stories from people who’ve found Launchpad useful.
Hosts: Matthew Revell, Joey Stanford and Elliot Murphy.
Theme: Obscurity by Barry Warsaw.
- 02.30: The winner of the Launchpad logo contest!
- 07.38: Interview with Tony Wright, CEO of RescueTime, whose service helps you keep track of how you spend your time. The community around RescueTime’s Linux client uses Launchpad. Tony tells us about RescueTime and their Launchpad experience.
- 21.00: Your questions for the Launchpad team! Send questions for the next episode to feedback@launchpad.net.
- 33.16: Joey’s Number of the Week!
Send us your ideas and questions to feedback@launchpad.net! Thanks to gschaefr for suggesting the name Launchpod!
Launchpad Logo Contest Winner Announced
Published by Joey Stanford May 16, 2008 in General
We’re very pleased to announce the results of the Launchpad Logo Contest!
(See https://help.launchpad.net/logo)
The number and quality of submissions took all of us by surprise. We are
immensely pleased with the results and are in awe at what the community
has done. We had so many interesting designs that it was very difficult for
us to declare a single winner.
However, there was one design that we felt embodied what Launchpad is all
about. We were impressed by how it summarised so much about Launchpad and
yet remained beautifully simple.
So, we’re delighted to say that the winner is Eugene Tretyak!
You can view his design here: https://help.launchpad.net/logo/winning-entry
The center of the design represents how Launchpad makes it easy for
people to collaborate and connect with one another, while the surrounding
facets represent the different services that Launchpad provides.
Above all, it shows that all projects are themselves a gem and, when
combined with other gems, can turn into something brilliant.
Eugene is both an Ubuntu member and Kubuntu developer and will receive
an official Ubuntu Messenger Bag.
There are also two runners-up whose designs made the selection process very
challenging for us. Mariana Ravicole and Ambroise Coutand will each receive
a 25 GBP gift certificate to the Canonical Store in recognition of their
highly competitive and very popular designs.
Additionally, we would also like to give an honourable mention to Donn
Ingle for his contributions. Donn’s varied designs were a popular
favourite.
Finally, the Launchpad Team would like to thank everyone who participated
in the contest. We are humbled by the response and are deeply thankful to
all the participants.
Joey Stanford
