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4 <td class="contentTopic"> Feature Requests </td>
9 <h2>Funded Development</h2>
10 Now that <a href="http://www.baculasystems.com">Bacula Systems SA</a> exists,
11 it is possible to sponsor funded development projects. This is a contractual
12 relationship where the Bacula Systems developers agree to implement
13 a specific project within a specific time frame. All code that is developed
14 by Bacula Systems developers, goes into the Bacula community source
15 repository, so is available for everyone to use.
17 <h2>Community Development</h2>
18 If you are not interested in sponsoring a development project, you can
19 nevertheless submit a feature request to have a favorite feature
20 implemented (and even submit your own patch for it).
22 <p>In the past, users informally submitted feature requests by email, and
23 we collected them, then once a version was released, we would publish the
24 list for users to vote on.
26 Now that Bacula has become a bigger project, this process has been
27 formalized a bit more. The main change is for users
28 to carefully think about their feature, and submit it on a feature
29 request form. A mostly empty form is shown below along with an
30 example of an actual filled in form. A text copy of the form can
31 be found in the <b>projects</b> file in the main source directory
32 of the Bacula release. That file also contains a list of all the
33 currently approved projects and their status.
35 The best time to submit a Feature Request is just after a release when
36 we officially request feature requests for the next version. The worst
37 time to submit a feature request is just prior to a new release (we are
38 very busy at that time). To actually submit the Feature request,
39 fill out the form, and submit it to both the bacula-users and
40 the bacula-devel email lists. It will then be openly discussed.
42 Once the Feature Request has beeen adequately discussed, Bacula Project
43 Manager (Kern) will either reject it, approve it, or possibly request some
44 modifications. If you plan to implement the feature or donate
45 funds to have it implemented, this is important to note,
46 otherwise, the feature, even if approved, may wait a long time
47 for someone to implement it.
49 Once the Feature request is approved, we will add it to the projects
50 file, which contains a list of all open Feature Requests. The projects
51 file is updated from time to time
53 The current (though possibly somewhat old) list of projects can also
54 be found on the Web site by clicking on the Projects menu item to the
58 <h3>Feature Request Form</h3>
60 Item n: One line summary ...
61 Origin: Name and email of originator.
62 Date: Date submitted (e.g. 28 October 2005)
65 What: More detailed explanation ...
67 Why: Why it is important ...
69 Notes: Additional notes or features ...
73 <h3>An Example Feature Request</h3>
75 Item 1: Implement a Migration job type that will move the job
76 data from one device to another.
78 Origin: Sponsored by Riege Sofware International GmbH. Contact:
79 Daniel Holtkamp <holtkamp at riege dot com>
80 Status: Partially coded in 1.37 -- much more to do. Assigned to
83 What: The ability to copy, move, or archive data that is on a
84 device to another device is very important.
86 Why: An ISP might want to backup to disk, but after 30 days
87 migrate the data to tape backup and delete it from
88 disk. Bacula should be able to handle this
89 automatically. It needs to know what was put where,
90 and when, and what to migrate -- it is a bit like
91 retention periods. Doing so would allow space to be
92 freed up for current backups while maintaining older
95 Notes: Migration could be triggered by:
99 Highwater size (keep total size)
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