Contributors Meetup Async Update - Jul 6th - Jul 19th, 2024

Working Groups Core Contributors
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Core Contributor Update: Jul 6th - Jul 19th, 2024

Use the jump links below to view the section that interests you:

  1. Working Groups Updates
  2. Events
  3. Projects
  4. Next async update and meetup

1. Working Groups Updates

Working Groups Calendar

1.1. BTR Working Group

Chair: @jalondonot

:paperclip: Latest news

:memo: Meeting notes

1.2. Contributor Coordination Working Group

Chair: Jorge Londoño

:memo: Meeting notes

1.3. Data Working Group

Chair: @e0d & @blarghmatey

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-05-29 Meeting notes

  • Aspects Product Release Notes and How-Tos for Course Delivery Teams and Superusers; Setup Documentation for Site Operators to follow:
  • Collecting feedback on Aspects: Watch out for a form in the Data WG meeting soon!
  • Aspects extension options: Looking for options to extend aspects with third-party plugins.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.4. DEPR Working Group

Chair: @feanil

:paperclip: Latest news

:memo: Meeting notes

1.6. Tutor Users’ Group

Chair: Kyle McCormick

  • Moises: Dockerfile reference I wanted to use the RUN --mount=type=ssh instruction to install private packages. This command needs an additional flag to the build command that I can add via the DOCKER_BUILD_COMMAND filter. The problem is that the --ssh=default=$SSH_AUTH_SOCK flag gets escaped by shlex. As a workaround is possible to use os.environ.get("SSH_AUTH_SOCK") but some people may not want to print those values to the stdout.
  • Marketplace and Plugin Installation
    • Marketplace Catalog: Discussion with marketing about creating a marketplace catalog for Tutor plugins.
    • One-Click Installation: Goal to make plugins available for operators with a one-click installation process, specifically through the Tutor index.
  • Automation and Customization
    • Post-Installation Actions: Many plugins require additional steps like rebuilding images, running init, or configuration.
    • Automatic vs. Manual: There is a debate on whether Tutor should automatically run these actions. Some operators prefer manual control due to customizations.
    • Flag for Automation: Idea to implement a flag that runs all necessary steps automatically for one-click installation.
  • Graphical User Interface (GUI)
    • Interest in GUI: There is interest in a GUI interface for Tutor. The existing webui plugin serves the CLI through a web browser.
    • Marketplace UI: Initially, the marketplace will be a catalog with descriptions and installation instructions, manually maintained. Integration into Tutor would be a second phase.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.7. Educators Working Group

Chair: @john_curricume

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2024-05-20 Educator WG

  • DJohn Swope, Education Technology Specialist, Chair at St. George’s University AI in Higher Education committee, Author of Micro AI Apps in Online Education: Impacts on Efficiency, Quality and Future Directions to discuss 5 Lessons Learned Building AI Assessments.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.8. Frontend Working Group

Chair: @arbrandes

:paperclip: Latest news

  1. David’s Solution for Frontend Build Testing:
  • David discovered a method to ease the long-standing issue of testing MFEs with frontend builds.
  • Solution involves using local copies of frontend builds set as files and modifying Webpack loaders.
  1. Module Federation Implementation:
  • Discussion on the architecture and placement of OEP-0065 changes within the codebase.
  • Transition from single-page applications (SPAs) to module-based architecture using module federation.
  • Multiple options considered for transitioning, including incremental changes within the frontend app repo and separate build targets.
  1. Challenges with Current Approach:
  • Issues with requiring multiple PRs for changes across repos (modules and apps).
  • Exploring alternatives like mini monorepos or maintaining separate directories within a repo to ease development and deployment.
  1. Future Direction for Frontend Development:
  • Supporting both SPAs and module-based development simultaneously.
  • Potential solutions for maintaining consistency and ease of development while transitioning.
  1. Customizability and Compatibility Concerns:
  • Maintaining the ability to run MFEs independently.
  • Ensuring new changes are backward compatible.
  • Discussion on integrating front-end plugin framework (FPF) into new module federation architecture.
  1. Addressing Specific Issues and Development Needs:
  • Considerations for enterprise versus open-source implementations.
  • Handling forks and customizations within the module federation setup.
  • Integrating dependencies like front-end build and front-end platform in a modular approach.
  1. Next Steps and Action Items:
  • Awaiting David’s ADRs (Architecture Decision Records) for further clarity.
  • Potential for a modularity summit to discuss and iron out implementation details.
  • Ensuring backward compatibility and ease of transition for developers.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.9. Large Instances Working Group

Chair: @braden & @Felipe

:paperclip: Latest news

  • Updates from each org on the call - 2U, Edunext, OpenCraft, Raccoon Gang
  • Edunext:
    • Felipe Montoya : interested in discussing Reaching 50k concurrent users on Open edX with Oracle Cloud with stakeholders at the conference to better understand the numbers.
    • MoisĂ©s GonzĂĄlez : Exploring using ingress-nginx for serving static assets in on-premises (non-cloud) installations, because it can cache some files in memory and reduce traffic to the LMS pods (e.g. uwsgi which normally serves static assets). It seems to be performing well, reducing load on the LMS pods, though not as effectively as using CloudFront. If this continues to seem promising, we should investigate adding it to Harmony.
    • Jhony Avella In the last meeting, I mentioned 502 errors we were seeing. However, we stopped seeing the issue. At a future hackathon, we are planning to measure how various configuration policies (number of workers, pod size, etc) affect the instances and the error rate.
    • We have a client that doesn’t allow pods to run with the root user, but Tutor currently requires this for some pods like minio, caddy, and tutor-mfe. Planning to mention this to the tutor users group.
    • Regarding the celery workers: when using just one queue for LMS/CMS services, it’s very difficult to predict the workload when there’s a mix of long-running and short-running tasks. We want to separate the async load into different queues. We’re still testing this, but it’s looking promising.
  • Harmony project updates:
    • Maksim Sokolskiy finished testing the Elasticsearch PR - thanks! Though we have a dependency on another PR for tutor-forum, so we’ll try to nudge the maintainer to get that dependency merged.
    • MoisĂ©s GonzĂĄlez : For logging with Aspects, we use a helm chart to deploy Vector as a demonset, which uses a privileged container to capture and transform logs. The other approach is to use a sidecar container which pushes the logs to Vector. We’ve been using the demonset approach, where you can configure which pods (e.g. only ones with a specific annotation), and then it transforms the logs into a format that is compatible with aspects. Considering making a tutor and/or Harmony plugin for this approach.
    • MoisĂ©s GonzĂĄlez : We should update all the dependencies in our Helm chart to make sure we’re up to date for security patches, etc. Also, one big helm chart is getting messy. Maybe we can split it up into several separate helm charts that operators can pick and choose.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.10. Marketing Working Group

Chair: Eden Huthmacher

:paperclip: Latest news

:memo: Meeting notes

1.11. Maintainers

Chair: Feanil

:memo: Meeting notes

1.12. Product Working Group

Chair: Jenna Makowski

:paperclip: Latest news

  • UX/UI Working Group
    • Question about designing Studio components- Is there a process for designing settings pages in Studio for new XBlocks?
      • Marco - Not that I’m aware of, but this is an interesting project/ concept area.
      • The LTI Working group is looking at an LTI Redesign Effort that covers a whole host of new potential patterns. - LTI Redesign Project
      • A recent / conference product proposal - Visually Configure Course Components
    • Question about finding the most up-to-date UX/UI versions of the product- What are people’s processes in finding out what the latest version of the platform’s features “look” like without having to log into a sandbox? eg. the latest ORA screenshots
      • Marco - We may want to check with BTR group, I wonder if we could get some community access, maybe core committers to start into the ‘redwood’ release (or whatever the latest release is) to be use for testing / review. Maintaining a list of what is active would be needed if we used this for testing.
    • Question about a Redwood sandbox that is permanently accessible - need to consult the Core Product team about this
      • Ask for a Redwood Release Sandbox or similar, but it might need a provider to ‘own’ the maintainership of a testing place
  • LTI/Learning Tool WG Meeting
    • Expecting this to be a quick meeting. Requesting further feedback from community after presentations last week (during the WG or in the notes section below). Leaving space for updated presentation from Pearson if they are ready to share with WG. Added async feedback from Axim. Its been a busy time for them - I’m trying to see if I can get something on the calendar with Axim and EduNext in 2 weeks’ time.

:memo: Meeting notes

1.13. Security Working Group

Chair: Feanil Patel

:arrow_down: Past meeting notes 2023-07-26 Security WG Meeting

:memo: Meeting notes

1.14. TOC

Chair: Ed Zarecor

  1. Incident with OtterBot Tool:
    • There was an incident where the OtterBot tool recorded conversations beyond the meeting due to a participant staying in the meeting for a long time.
    • The incident led to discussions about code of conduct and legal exposure concerns.
    • Decision: Autobot and similar AI tools will not be used in Open edX meetings.
  2. 2025 Open edX Conference
    • Ed provided updates on productive conversations with Carlos and Remy from the school applying to host it in 2025.
  3. Redwood Release Update
    • The Redwood release was discussed, highlighting a delay due to a security bug that needed to be resolved. The release, initially scheduled for June 10th, was postponed to the following Monday to ensure the security fix was applied adequately. There was an emphasis on the significance of addressing the security concerns thoroughly before proceeding with the release.
  4. Architectural Discussion:
    • Ed, Adolfo Brandes, and Dave Ormsbee presented on the architectural direction of the Open edX platform.
    • The primary objective was to ensure all participants agreed on the high-level architectural goals for the platform. Goals include responding to acute needs and making long-term investments in the platform, and developing a plugin architecture to address the need for greater integration flexibility and customization by third parties.
      1. This new architecture would enable developers and users to plug in external components easily and customize the platform according to specific needs without affecting the core system stability.
      2. Discussion on the plugin system for micro front ends, developed by Aperture team at 2U with support from Adolfo and other community members.
      3. Emphasis on making the plugin system simple, flexible, and stable for both developers and operators.
      4. Future plans include adding more plugin slots, unifying backend and frontend plugin communication, making plugins discoverable, and potentially an admin UI for plugin management.
    • The participants were encouraged to provide feedback on the proposed changes and think about future considerations that might impact the platform’s development. This was part of an ongoing effort to iterate on the architecture based on actual user needs and technological advancements.
    • Various viewpoints were expressed regarding the implementation challenges associated with the new architecture. Some participants were concerned about the potential complexity of integrating a robust plugin system without compromising the platform’s performance and security.
    • The long-term implications of the architectural changes were also discussed. Participants were interested in understanding how the proposed changes would affect the platform’s scalability, maintainability, and ability to adapt to future technological changes.
    • The architectural discussion aimed to foster a collaborative approach to enhancing the Open edX platform, ensuring that it remains a robust, flexible, and user-friendly system for educational institutions, developers, and learners worldwide.
  5. Standards and Integration:
    • Discussion on leveraging accepted standards like LTI and XAPI while maintaining internal standards like OLX.
    • Consideration of integrating with key players in the ecosystem like H5P and Salesforce for better product quality and interoperability.
    • Challenges with existing standards and the importance of identifying strategic partners for integration.
  6. Deprecation of Unused Features:
    • Focus on reducing maintenance burden by deprecating rarely used features and repositories.
    • Example: The deprecation of the e-commerce platform and transition to WooCommerce plugin.

:pushpin: Relevant links

:memo: Meeting notes

1.15. Translation Working Group

Chair: Eden Huthmacher

  • Upon today’s Translations WG meeting, we have decided on the following solutions to optimize the KPIs for the openedx-translations project:
    1. Archive the edx-platform project, and other projects in the TX interface, which are no longer relevant/supported - it appears that people were still accessing old projects, particularly the edx-platform project to conduct translations and reviews of translations
    2. Communicate to everyone in Transifex that the openedx-translations project represents our new Master project. All translations for past, current, and future releases should be completed in the openedx-translations project, not the old master project: edx-platform (which will be archived in the coming week)
    3. Release specific strings will be in the dedicated release projects. Our current release-specific project that people should complete their translations & reviews in, is the openedx-translations-redwood project. Please prioritize your efforts in the release specific project, if you are planning on running the Redwood release.

:memo: Meeting notes

2. Events

3. Projects

Are there any new or ongoing projects you’d like to discuss? Get the conversation started in the comments below.

4. Next async update and meetup

  • Tuesday August 6th - Join the meetup here!
  • Friday August 2nd - Async update
  • Details and draft agenda on Confluence

:speech_balloon: Anything to add?

If there’s anything else you’d like to mention, please let us know in the comments below.

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Core Contributor Check-in: Jul 6th - Jul 19th, 2024

:stopwatch: Core Contributor Hours

There was a total of 148 hours of contributions reported this past sprint. This is 81 hours less than the previous sprint of 229 hours. However there were 18 respondents this past sprint vs 26 respondents in the previous sprint.

response rate
response rate1102×498 19.1 KB

:notebook_with_decorative_cover: Summary of Responses

Do you need any help? Or is there anything you’d like to collaborate on?

@ali_hugo

  • We’re looking for a few more product reviewers for the Short Response XBlock (Static + LLM Feedback) proposal. If you’re interested in getting involved, please take a read through the wiki page and leave your feedback.

What did you accomplish this sprint?

@jill

  • Regular repo maintenance

@pdpinch

@juancamilom

  • Engaged with the Marketing Working Group
  • Documentation review efforts

@Felipe

  • Reading and drafting proposals with the ideas from the conference
  • Reviewing the status of the design tokens deliverables

@ali_hugo

What do you plan to work on in the upcoming sprint?

@jill

  • Taking time off for the next 4 weeks, so taking this opportunity to pull my CC hours back down to normal commitment levels. Will be available for PR reviews and docs updates.

@pdpinch

What went well this sprint?

@pdpinch

  • The conference was great: collaborative and inspiring, in a fresh locale. Let’s do it again!

:speech_balloon: Questions or comments?

Please add any questions or comments you might have below. We’d love to hear from you!

And if you’d like to take a peek at the full report, see it on Listaflow

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