I am planning to upgrade my company's intranet from liferay 6.0.6CE to 6.2CE. I have done some research on it but I am still confused on API part. Will my custom portlets need only recompilation or would they need a complete rewriting. I am also concerned about my Theme and Exts. I have a lot of customization in my exts and my theme. What would be the best way to move ahead?
Also I have a NFS file server and SOLR search server configured with my current deployment. Need suggestions on that too.
I've heard recently, that the Migration Tool (6.1 to 6.2) now also supports themes. It won't be pixel perfect though. Check what it can do for you.
There have been some APIs that changed. Contrary to the comments given to your question, I'd say "It depends": I don't know how much of Liferay's API you use or if you just add functionality on top. You'll have to find out for yourself. The migration tool might help you.
The things that have changed the most are: Themes (using Bootstrap, as of 6.2) and Document Library (now including ImageGallery, which was still available in 6.0). Migration of data should be smooth if you follow the documented upgrade path. Migration of your portlets and plugins will definitely require recompile (within the new plugins sdk or updated maven dependencies) and probably adaptation to some changed API calls. I've seen instances where this was simple, but I've also seen hard cases.
As there have been no more updates for 6.0 CE for quite a while, I'm recommending to upgrade though (other than #FeinesFabi in the comment). If you want to have a long-term stable platform that you don't need to maintain for yourself, EE would be the way to go (supported for ~7 years after release)
For ext changes, you'll have to be aware that there are no guarantees: Ext allows you to change the inner implementation of Liferay, and that's what nobody strives to keep stable, even in minor updates. If you're using ext, you'll always have to be aware of incompatible changes. Ext allows you to keep your changes out of the official sourcecode - so they're well isolated. It doesn't say anything about the underlying implementation to be stable. With great power (ext) comes great responsibility. Keep your ext as small as possible - whatever you can do outside of ext should be done outside and use the public API.
The basic upgrade path (for Liferay itself, not your plugins) is quite well documented in the User's Guide.
Is there a issue tracking system with hierarchy for tasks?
It's pretty obvious taht new-feature-request can be split into more parts (UI change, Bac office-change).
Also bug-solving can be split into multyple tasks.
Is there any tracking system that supports that?
Edit:
Any free system
Most of the current issue tracking systems do.
Off the top of my head, Bugzilla, FogBugz, Trac, and Jira all do.
You should try Redmine.
It provides more out from the box than Trac. Trac must be used with various plugins to achieve the similar.
You can read the following for feedbacks:
Trac wiki page
RedMine is the latest incarnation of the Trac clones...
Multi-project support...
Ticket dependencies!
Redmine vs Trac
Even if this is a great plugin for trac, - after 6 weeks of using it - I'd still opt for redmine.
TrackStudio report
So, we think that Redmine can be a very good choice for small teams, but for large scale projects it can be a Herculean task to set things right without commercial task management systems."
If you need to manage a complex hierarchy, I recommend Project Kaiser - it has a good support for hierarchical subprojects and subissues.
We've just started to used bugzilla and I found the web interface quite slow and not user-friendly.
I'm wondering if anyone have a suggestion for a client desktop or a browser add-on running under windows.
I found the following page: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bugzilla:Addons
Which one of these clients (or any other) is the best ? Any other suggestions ?
I already tried Deskzilla Lite, which seem pretty good. However, there is a lot of field (edit bug) that we don't use (i.e. hardware, os, url, depends on, etc). Is there a desktop client that allow to remove and customize the field used in the bug entry form? On this one, please do not answer I can customize the bugzilla templates, we don't want to use the web interface anyway.
Well it depends on your Bugzilla Version. Since I updated to 4.0 I've got no alternative to Deskzilla since MyZilla is not running anymore. LiveProject looks pretty neat but I never tested it, so... Deskzilla lite. :/
I was wondering if there is a website that helps with giving you a checklist for your web app, to make sure you don't miss anything!! It could be very tedious when building a large project by yourself! obviously nothing specific, just a guideline for a web app. thanks
This doesn't necessarily work for all projects, but it's a great start!
http://launchlist.net/
In light of your comment below, I recommend
http://goplanapp.net
it's free and open-source and allows you to create project milestones, have ongoing discussions on various issues, and alot more.
Trac is a website driven software that allows you to set milestones, reports, svn browsing, priorities, bug tracking, and wiki's. A lot of active open source projects use it to host their software. I use it extensively for each client project I start.
I like http://kanbanery.com/ alot.
It allows you to have tasks with subtasks, add info, attachments, comments, etc to a task and you can arrange those in multiple columns.
(I know it is targeted at scrum / kanban teams, but the app can be tailored to make it fit for your workflow)
I work for a very small company (~5 employees, 2.5 coders). We have gotten away with no code or document management for several years, but it's starting to catch up with us as we grow a bit.
Any suggestions for a management system. Free is better, but cheap is acceptable. We just don't want to spend more time on installation/configuration than it is going to save us.
We use mostly VC++ 6, but we're branching into VC# 2008. Also, we need to keep track of mechanical drawings and circuit diagrams for several pieces of hardware, as well as user manuals for both hardware and software (but I don't really expect to find one tool that will do all of this, just hoping).
Subversion (SVN) is an excellent option for you. It's free, integrates nicely into Windows with TortoiseSVN, and is well-tolerated by users.
We are using it for source code, as well as for document management.
http://trac.edgewall.org/ - might be a bit hard to install but otherwise is very good if coupled with svn repository
Mantis is good for issue tracking. Subversion for source control. Both are free.
For documents, I do not know. Sounds like you would do fine with a network share.
You may want to look at Trac.
I work for a similar sized company, and when I got here I was in the same place as you. I implemented SVN/Subversion http://subversion.tigris.org/ quite easily. If you use the svn protocol and use svnserve (can be setup as a windows service that auto starts on your server) it should take you 1.5-3 hours to setup depending on how much you want to read http://svnbook.red-bean.com/, see collabnet http://www.collab.net/downloads/subversion/ for the Windows package download
Using Windows, you can use Tortoise SVN which integrates into the windows shell. There is also a new release of Ankh SVN (2.0) http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/ that integrates into Visual Studio. Ankh is very nice (has pending changes window, kind of similar to Subclipse like functionality) but it is a new release and is somewhat buggy (we have experienced some memory probs and slowness). We currently use both Tortoise for initial checkouts or imports and Ankh for everything else and are pretty happy.
If you have any Mac users, there are a lot of options out there. We have a mac user here who uses Versions http://www.versionsapp.com/, though it sounds like they will charge for it once they get out of beta.
I would recommend SVN because it is widely used out there and I feel that is important with open source projects you are going to use daily for production purposes. Just to spell it out, everything (other than Versions) mentioned is free.
Perforce!
It's extremely fast compared to most other source control systems. It works great remotely. (SSH tunnels, in my case)
The VS plugins are quite decent... I haven't tried the Eclipse one that much yet.
If you can get by with two users with 5 workspaces each, then you can use it for free. (I do, currently)
If that won't work, then it does cost a bit... something like $800/user I believe. Sometime next year I'm probably paying that. (5 workspaces is tough when you work on several machines with VMs)
Still, I heard the slower-than-glacial ClearCase/ClearQuest system one client one mine is using was something like $10k per developer, so expensive where source control is concerned is a relative concept.
Don't skimp on the source control, man! Slow source control is a serious pain in the a$$.
Avoid SourceSafe-like systems that only version files... use systems that track tasks or change sets. It's very useful to see what all belongs together as a task. Tags are not an acceptable substitute.
Also, the journalling nature of Perforce makes backups and recovery a lot easier.
Use Git for source control, Basecamp/Pivotal Tracker/Unfuddled for coding workflow, and Sharepoint/Google Docs for document management.
If you get a MSDN developer license, you can run TFS workgroup edition. That has source control and document management rolled all up in one package that's pretty easy to use and manage. That, in addition to an internal wiki, is what my company does.
Use Subversion. It's free and is the preferred source control system for the vast majority of open source projects.
SVN uses shallow copies, so when you have large files in a repository and you branch, a full file copy isn't done... just a pointer to the original. As for text files (code) only diffs are stored.
Use TortoiseSVN for windows explorer integration.
TFS is a pig, and you'd need to open visual studio to interact with source explorer. Stupid for a CAD engineer to have to need a license to TFS for that.
For document management, just use Windows Sharepoint Services that comes with Windows Server 2003 (or 2008).
I also work for a small company and we mainly develop in .NET languages. We have decided to use Visual SourceSafe for source control, despite its questionable reputation, since it integrates nicely with Visual Studio. VSS works very well for us, and we have not experienced any serious problems with it. Also, we host a SharePoint server, which we use to store documents like coding standards, storyboards, and even our SCRUM log.
We use HostingPlayground. For $6 per month we get multiple Subversion repositories and an instance of Trac. Can't beat it. And since its a service its available immediately.
It seems the solution for your 'management' requirements will require at least a tool or set of tools in the following categories: (sorry about the links, not enough reputation to put proper ones in the reply)
Source Code Management
Trouble/Bug Ticketing
Document Management
Definitely take a look at stackoverflow.com/questions/15024/tools-to-help-a-small-shop-score-higher-on-the-joel-test Tools to help a small shop score higher on the joel test referenced by stackoverflow.com/questions/84303/code-document-management-for-a-very-small-company/84363#84363 Kristopher
Each have various free/open source solutions, and likewise there are commercial solutions.
Source Code Management (SCM)
A significant trend(?) of source code management is evolving from centralised code management with something like TFS(?), cvs or subversion.tigris.org svn), to decentralised 'distributed' source code management with tools such as www.selenic.com/mercurial/wiki/ or git-scm.com/. Some of the tools either integrate into continutation
The above mentioned source code management tools all have nice ms windows integration tools, and some even have closer Visual Studio integration (e.g. TFS, ankhsvn.open.collab.net/ ANKH svn mentioned by Mario).
A simplistic generalistion would recommend git/mercurial when your coding involves a good portion of time away/off disconnected from your centralised source code repository (such as doing a lot of coding from home when your repository is not accessible through the Internet.)
Wikipedia has a en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_code_management nice overview of the various issues related to source code management, and the benefits of various options.
If you haven't used scm before, just pick one or two of the tools that fits your groups requirements and test it. Of course, if you know someone near who has experience with a particular scm solution it may help with the team's learning curve to have that shared experience around.
My pick for your scenario: Subversion with ankhsvn.open.collab.net Ankh SVN for Visual Studio integration.
Trouble/Bug Ticketing
None of the tools available solve everything for everybody, each have their advantages and most require some compromise from a development teams existing modus operandi. Again, wikipedia is your friend with a en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_tracker general summary and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_issue_tracking_systems comparison of major tools.
Installation
The php based tools are the easiest (in my experience) to get up and running, and the perl tools more involved(?) Of course there's python one that's real easy to install, but then requires a better mind than mine to configure.
My pick for your scenario: trac.edgewall.org/ Trac
Trac is an enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects. Trac uses a minimalistic approach to web-based software project management. Our mission is to help developers write great software while staying out of the way. Trac should impose as little as possible on a team's established development process and policies.
It provides an interface to Subversion (or other version control systems), an integrated Wiki and convenient reporting facilities.
Trac allows wiki markup in issue descriptions and commit messages, creating links and seamless references between bugs, tasks, changesets, files and wiki pages. A timeline shows all current and past project events in order, making the acquisition of an overview of the project and tracking progress very easy. The roadmap shows the road ahead, listing the upcoming milestones.
Drawings/Document Management
If you use Subversion with Trac then much of your document management may be solved with these tools. Otherwise another stackoverflow discussion topic: stackoverflow.com/questions/587481/developer-documentation-sharepoint-document-management-vs-screwturn-wiki Developer documentation sharepoint document management vs. screwturn wiki, for Windows centric environment, is a good read.