add blog/2020-02-04-GSoC.md

Co-authored-by: ocefpaf <[email protected]>

Author: jaimergp

blog/2020-02-04-GSoC.md

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+---
+authors:
+  - ocefpaf
+tags: [autotick-bot, gsoc]
+---
+
+# Google Summer of Code 2020 improved automatic maintenance of `conda-forge`
+
+The `conda-forge` "autotick" bot is a crucial part of `conda-forge`'s
+infrastructure. It enables automatic maintenance of `conda-forge`
+packages by pushing version updates to the underlying software and
+enabling large migrations of packages from one dependency to another
+(e.g., Python 3.7 to Python 3.8). As `conda-forg` grows in size, with
+over 9,000 packages to date, automatic maintenance of the `conda-forge`
+ecosystem will become even more important.
+
+<!--truncate-->
+
+We here at `conda-forge` have a large number of potential Google Sumer
+of Code projects around maintenance and development of the autotick bot
+infrastructure. These projects are high-impact, affecting the entire
+`conda-forge` ecosystem. They also cover multiple systems including
+databases, `conda`'s CDN provider, continuous integration providers,
+and user interactions on GitHub.
+
+Want to be a part of the team? Great! Take a look at the projects below
+and get in touch with us on GitHub! You can check the [GSoC
+label](<https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/labels/GSOC>) for a
+detailed listing of the issues that need work.
+
+1.  Maintenance and Refactoring
+
+    We have a large backlog of maintenance and refactoring issues that
+    are great for people with a range of experience from beginners to
+    true code ninjas.
+
+    -   Integration Testing for the Autotick Bot
+
+        > Run true integration testing on a copy of the graph to better
+        > test code changes and improve our CI process.
+        >
+        > **Issue**: <https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/issues/261>
+        >
+        > **Experience Level**: advanced
+
+    -   Work on the "code hardening"
+        [Milestone](<https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/milestone/4>)
+
+        Address any of the issues in the milestone above related to code
+        refactoring and cleanup.
+
+        **Issues**: <https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/milestone/4>
+
+        **Experience Level**: beginner to advanced
+
+2.  Automated PRs for Globally Pinned Packages
+
+    `conda-forge` maintains a list of globally pinned packages. These
+    are typically dependencies whose version needs to be the same across
+    all of `conda-forge` (e.g., the compiler versions or packages like
+    `HDF5`). While we have infrastructure to run a migration of the
+    downstream packages from a given pinned package, we do not have
+    automated infrastructure to propose the migration of the pin itself.
+    The project here is to add this functionality to our infrastructure.
+
+    **Issue**: <https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/issues/665>
+
+    **Experience Level**: advanced
+
+3.  Check the `conda` CDN for Updated Packages before Issuing PRs in a
+    Migration
+
+    `conda` relies on a CDN provider to serve the index of available
+    packages. There is a moderate ~30 minute delay between when a
+    package is uploaded to `anaconda.org` and when it will appear in the
+    `conda` index. We currently do not take this delay into account when
+    issuing PRs in a migration.
+
+    **Issue**: <https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/issues/595>
+
+    **Experience Level**: beginner
+
+4.  Finish Migrations with PR into the `conda-forge` Pinnings File
+
+    Right now, when the migration of say package `ABC` to version `X`
+    from version `Y` is done, we do not automatically merge the change
+    in the globally pinned value of `ABC` into our listing of global
+    pinnings. We should be issuing a PR to the pinnings file once we
+    have determined that a suitable fraction of the packages effected by
+    a migration have been properly rebuilt.
+
+    **Issue**: <https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/issues/595>
+
+    **Experience Level**: moderate
+
+5.  Fully Render `conda` Packages in order to Determine Migration
+    Dependencies
+
+    Determining the dependencies of a given package is actually a
+    computation expensive task due to the way `conda` recipes are
+    structured and parametrized through the use of `Jinja2` and
+    `conda-build-config.yaml` files. Currently, the autotick bot
+    examines the static metadata in the `meta.yaml` file and not the
+    fully rendered metadata. For this reason, we sometimes miss
+    dependencies of a given package that need to be migrated first.
+    Addressing this issue involves both calling the rendering process
+    and also scaling that process to the entire set of `conda-forge`
+    packages.
+
+    **Issue**: <https://github.com/regro/cf-scripts/issues/664>
+
+    **Experience Level**: moderate