[Bf-committers] Welcome & status

[Ton Roosendaal]

Hi all,

I've seen quite some new subscribters coming by. Welcome!
Here a short summary of the past month:

- Current project:
Aim is to get a source release that compiles and runs out-of-the-box for 
all platforms. For Unix (and cygwin) the autoconf tools will be used, 
for Windows we'll still allow MSVC project files. In the archives you 
can read much more on the current project focus.

- ODE
We couldn't get the collision library in Blender open-sourced. So we'll 
move to ODE in Blender instead. This has quite some implications... 
especially when replacing the full Blender Physics system (SUMO). Choice 
is to first look at getting ODE working correctly, then look at making 
it compatible with 2.25 physics. This project has started and can 
continue, as part of the 'out-of-the-box' work.

- Help testing:
You can checkout the latest cvs version and do some tests. Any gurus out 
there who know autoconf well? Kent Mein is our current autoconf guru, he 
did most of the work. Keep in sync with him if you like to help.

- CVS write access:
Several people at this list can allow you write access. Just ask! But 
please refine commits to the current project.

- SourceForge projects:
The blender.org website will have sourceforge 2.5 installed. That's 
where we move to when the first source release is ready. There's still 
another team busy getting it all installed. Current target date is dec 1.

- Phases:
This is still phase zero... after that we can start accepting serious 
improvements in Blender. For me phase one then is doing a 2.26 release, 
tested & bugfixed for all current platforms. We can repeat that cycle a 
few times, until we're completely up and running. Then phase three 
comes: a serious major upgrade, Blender 2.5.
For phase one I'll select people who proved to be able to code useful 
stuff with Blender the past period. Don't hesitate to show your 
patches/forks/versions! Use the forums to express visions and do 
suggestions.

Thanks! It might look it goes slow, but we certainly move... let's hope 
it all accellerates too! :-)

-Ton-

_____________________________________________________
Ton Roosendaal | ton@blender.org | Blender Foundation
Amsterdam | The Netherlands |  http://www.blender.org