[Sogarth]

Originally Posted by luv2chill

Some very nice sentiments in here (and long posts!) and a great vision for where we should go. But before we can get there the base kitchen needs to be fully functional. The basic bugs all need to be fixed first (some already are).

I agree with the sentiment that before we really unleash this, things ought to be more stable, but as things go, there's enough to work with that this other project could start. I expect that it will take a while for it to be in a form ready for public consumption, so this work could go on in parallel, rather than serially.

The other thing I would point out, though, is that for better or for worse, there are plenty of users who are downloading and installing all of these OS images that have those "basic bugs" you've pointed out, and I doubt they're going to stop anytime soon. Anything we would be pulling together from this route would arguably still be an improvement (in customization terms) over what they have now.

Originally Posted by luv2chill

1. Take the stock AKU 3.5 kitchen (I believe this was created by Imcokeman based on helmi's AKU 3.3 kitchen).

I wish it were stock. It's not quite (although I believe it's fairly close). Take, for example, this post here where one user tells another that some of the MSN apps have been taken out of the kitchen (which is true).

Originally Posted by luv2chill

2. Using the Wiki, compile a list of all bugs present in that kitchen. This gives a master list of the problems. For the ones that have been fixed already, provide a detailed description of the fix, cab or OEM of the fix, and credit where due). Unfixed bugs should have the names of people working on them (links to thread topics with discussion?). We don't move beyond this step until all of the known bugs are fixed or reasonably worked around (general consensus?).

Not a bad idea. I suppose if nobody else will, I could probably start up a wiki page (although it'd mean crawling through some of the really long threads I've already read... ). Things being what they are, I'd probably need help from some other people to list what all of the true HTC-based issues are (as versus some of the OEM-based issues like anything to do with MS VC).

Originally Posted by luv2chill

3. Once all of the known issues are fixed, an OEM package for each fix is created and sufficiently tested. Then it is moved into the kitchen, but still in the OEM folder (I strongly suggest the OS and LOC folders are not ever touched). This will become the final "vanilla" kitchen for this AKU, at which point it can be plugged into that cool web page idea, and be used as the basis for everybody and their mother's own custom ROM.

Mostly true. I would recommend that this would be the point where the majority of users would have an opportunity to really dig in and start mucking with the system. I would have to slightly disagree with the point about the OS and LOC folders, though, particularly since users may decide to perform certain actions which have effects on these folders. Take, for example, removing elements of the Pocket Office suite, the MSN integration, or even the default ringtones (in order to recover space to add alternative programs instead). Large pieces of those elements reside in the OS and LOC folders, so those (by definition) would need to be altered in order to achieve the desired results.

What would probably need to happen would be some form of very basic scripting system so that those developing for the system would be able to dictate what would need to happen for various pieces to be added (particularly those that affect multiple folders). Note that this wouldn't be necessary for anybody developing their own personal OEM package, and I would imagine that the majority of OEM packages wouldn't need to affect the existing folders, but there would be a handful that would need to perform special operations like this.

Originally Posted by luv2chill

As it has developed now, people are moving on to step 3 without step 2 having been completed (not that this paradigm even exists--I'm just making an observation), and that accounts for a lot of the confusion here. Whose custom ROM fixes which bugs? At this point in time we need to concentrate not on adding apps and making OEMs, but fixing all of the existing bugs! Once they are fixed, then we truly have a functional kitchen and can proceed with all the app OEMs and custom rom business.

QFT. Although everybody still wants to jump into the pool, so they want everything now. Oh, and stable, too.

Originally Posted by luv2chill

There's my two pennies anyway. We need to walk before we can run.

I suppose my comment on the whole thing is that although I agree with the gist of all this, I still think that we can start setting up the framework for the next step while we're still working on this step. That'll allow for the overall project to complete in a shorter time span, and if we keep pretty tight controls on it, we should be able to retain control and stability of the final product as well.