Re: Git in Outreachy?

From: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Date: Sep 4, 2021, 17:51 UTC
Message-ID: <YTOyMxo2qZeBIWDM@nand.local>
In-Reply-To: <YTGLLQCvlnT17jo8@nand.local>

On Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 10:40:45PM -0400, Taylor Blau wrote:

>   - Updates to our applicant materials on git.github.io (project ideas,
>     as well as potential microprojects).

One project I have been thinking of is a grab-bag of bitmap-related tasks. Some ideas for general improvements are:

  - Designing a new .bitmap format (perhaps using the new chunkfile
    API?) to allow us to add optional data to it in the future, like any
    information we might need for a stable object order.

  - Experimenting with replacing EWAH with different bitmap compression
    algorithms to see if we can increase read performance and/or
    decrease file size.

  - Tidy up and take measurements from my RFC patch(es) to add an
    extension which indicates which commits have bitmaps, and at what
    position. These were discussed beginning at:

        https://lore.kernel.org/git/YNuiM8TR5evSeNsN@nand.local/

    (but they seem to help most when there isn't too much traversal
    required between the ref tips and the bitmapped commits).

  - Rethinking bitmap selection to be more robust against repositories
    which have "spikey" ref tips and for which follow-on traversal is
    expensive.

These are all fairly open-ended, and so may not make a good Outreachy project. But I would be in favor of having more people familiar with and interested in reachability bitmaps.

I'll think of some others, too.

Thanks, Taylor