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[[File:SugaronastickMirabelle.png|450px|right|a Sugar environment you can carry in your pocket!|link=http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/#downloads]]

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== Sugar on a Stick - Mango Lassi ==

== Sugar on a Stick - Mango Lassi ==

: ''a Sugar environment you can carry in your pocket''

: ''a Sugar environment you can carry in your pocket''

Mango Lassi is the most recent release of the '''[[Sugar on a Stick]]''' project. It was released on the '''2nd November 2010.'''

'''Mango Lassi''' is the most recent version of '''[[Sugar on a Stick]]''' released on '''02 November 2010'''. [[wikipedia:Lassi|Mango Lassi]] is popular drink.

 

== Release announcement ==

== Release announcement ==

We are proud to announce the availability of [[Sugar on a Stick]] v.4, code-named Mango Lassi. More information about Sugar on a Stick, including download and installation details, is available at http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/.

We are proud to announce the availability of [[Sugar on a Stick]] v4, code-named Mango Lassi. More information about Sugar on a Stick, including download and installation details, is available at http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/.

<span class="linkgroup">[[File:Download Mirabell.png|center|link=http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/#downloads]]</span>

<span class="linkgroup">[[File:Download Mirabell.png|center|link=http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/#downloads]]</span>

=== What's new in Mango Lassi ===

=== What's new in Mango Lassi ===

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| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 200px;" | [[File:Mirabelle-home-screen.png|200px|left|link=0.88/Notes]]

| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 200px;" | [[File:Mirabelle-home-screen.png|200px|left|link=0.90/Notes]]

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'''Sugar version 0.90.''' The most recent release of the Sugar Learning Platform features support for Ad-hoc WiFi networks expanding the "under a tree"-scenario to standard wi-fi enabled devices, increased accessibility, enhanced UI capabilities including a spiral home view, enhanced colour selector as well as a lot of under the hood improvements for stability. More information about the 0.90 release of Sugar is available at [[0.90/Notes]].

'''Sugar version 0.90.''' The most recent release of the Sugar Learning Platform features support for ad hoc Wi-Fi networks, which expands the "under a tree"-scenario to standard Wi-Fi enabled devices. There are also new capabilities in the learner's interface, including a spiral home view, enhanced color selector, and Journal sorting. A lot of under the hood improvements for stability have been included, as usual.

 

More information about the 0.90 release of Sugar is available at [[0.90/Notes]].

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'''Customize your own remix of Sugar on a Stick.''' Mango Lassi has a slightly larger Activity selection than its predecessor Mirrabelle but has continued the trend of less but better tested Activities. We realized we'll never be able to create an Activity selection suitable for all deployments - instead, we've chosen to include and support a core set of basic, teacher-tested Activities in the default image, and invite deployments to use this as a base on which to build a customized Activity selection for their classrooms. Instructions on how to do this are available at http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/. A quick, but less pristine, method of build customization is available at [[Sugar on a Stick/Sugar Clone]].

'''Customize your own remix of Sugar on a Stick.''' Mango Lassi has a slightly larger Activity selection than its predecessor Mirabelle and has continued the trend of providing a few, better-tested Activities. We've realized that we'll never be able to create an Activity selection suitable for all deployments&mdash;instead, we've chosen to include and support a core set of basic, teacher-tested Activities in the default image, and invite deployments to use this as a base on which to build a customized Activity selection for their classrooms. Instructions on how to do this are available at http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/. A quick, but less pristine, method of build customization is available at [[Sugar on a Stick/Sugar Clone]].

| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 120px;" |[[File:Cici-stick.jpg|120px|right|http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/]]

| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 120px;" |[[File:Cici-stick.jpg|120px|right|http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/]]

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| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 150px;" | [[File:Fedora remix logo.png|left|link=http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas]]

| style="border: 0; border-width: 0; width: 150px;" |<span class="linkgroup">[[File:Fedora remix logo.png|left|link=http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas]]</span>

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'''Sugar on a Stick is now a Fedora Spin.''' After two prior releases of being based on the [http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview Fedora distribution], Sugar on a Stick has been recognized by the [http://fedoraproject.org Fedora Project] as an official [http://spins.fedoraproject.org Spin]. This ties us more closely to Fedora's release cycle and gives us resources from their engineering and marketing teams, which extends the reach of Sugar on a Stick and makes the project itself more sustainable. In exchange, users of Fedora have access to an easily deployable implementation of the Sugar Platform; it's a great example of a mutually beneficial upstream&ndash;downstream relationship.

'''Sugar on a Stick is a Fedora Spin.''' Since our last version (Mirabelle), Sugar on a Stick has been recognized by the [http://fedoraproject.org Fedora Project] as an official [http://spins.fedoraproject.org Spin]. This ties us more closely to Fedora's release cycle and gives us resources from their engineering and marketing teams, which extends the reach of Sugar on a Stick and makes the project itself more sustainable. In exchange, users of Fedora have access to an easily deployable implementation of the Sugar Platform; it's a great example of a mutually beneficial upstream&ndash;downstream relationship.

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=== Contributing to Sugar on a Stick ===

=== Contributing to Sugar on a Stick ===

The v.4 of Sugar on a Stick has continued the process of improving its release processes and engineering sustainability; it's now much easier for new contributors to get involved. We continue to move towards our long-term vision of bringing stability and deployability to Sugar's personalized learning environment, and invite all interested parties to join us.

With v4 of Sugar on a Stick, the team has continued to improve its release processes and engineering sustainability. New contributors are urged to get involved and help us move towards our long-term vision of bringing stability and deployability to Sugar's personalized learning environment.

If you'd like to contribute to the next version, due for release in early November, join us at our Contributors Portal at '''[[Sugar on a Stick]]'''. All types of contributions are welcome, from the technical to the pedagogical, and we're happy to teach what we know and learn what you have to share.

If you'd like to contribute to the next version, due for release in early May of 2011, join our [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/soas mailing list] and visit '''[[Sugar on a Stick]]'''. All types of contributions are welcome, from the technical to the pedagogical, and we're happy to teach what we know and learn what you have to share.

Thank you to all the people involved for their awesome work!

Thank you to all the people involved for their awesome work!

=== Introduction ===

=== Introduction ===

This section is a recap of the events that happened during the v4 release cycle (Mango Lassi) of Sugar on a Stick. It was largely an evolution of the v3 release with improved involvement with upstream Fedora and consolidation of the process. Its mostly documented on the mailing list, from personal memory and [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/soas/ soas mailing list archives], since there was no attempt to document the release history during the course of the release cycle itself.  

This section is a recap of the events during the v4 release cycle (Mango Lassi) of Sugar on a Stick. It was largely an evolution of the v3 release, with improved involvement with upstream Fedora and consolidation of the process. It is mostly documented on the mailing list, from personal memory and [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/soas/ soas mailing list archives], since there was no attempt to document the release history during the course of the release cycle itself.  

=== Pre-release ===

=== Pre-release ===

* '''25th May 2010''' - [http://fedoraproject.org Fedora] (and therefore [http://spins.fedoraproject.org Fedora Spin]) release cycle for Fedora 14 begins; this is significant since Fedora is one of our major upstreams.

* '''25th May 2010''' - [http://fedoraproject.org Fedora] (and therefore [http://spins.fedoraproject.org Fedora Spin]) release cycle for Fedora 14 begins; this is significant since Fedora is one of our major upstreams.

=== Re approved as a Fedora Spin ===

=== Re-approved as a Fedora Spin ===

"[Spins are alternate versions of Fedora, tailored for various types of users via hand-picked application sets and other customizations." --from http://spins.fedoraproject.org/about

"[Spins are alternate versions of Fedora, tailored for various types of users via hand-picked application sets and other customizations." --from http://spins.fedoraproject.org/about

Becoming a Fedora Spin gave us access to Fedora's engineering, marketing, and QA resources, which dramatically improved the sustainability and scalability of our release engineering processes. For instance, .iso files stopped being produced by the "Sebastian manually builds them every time" process, and started being automatically generated for testing by Fedora build servers. We gained some instant automation of the infrastructure we need anyway, without any more work or maintenance on our part, so we could focus on things like... making Activities work, the stuff that's actually unique to Sugar.

Becoming a Fedora Spin gave us access to Fedora's engineering, marketing, and QA resources, which dramatically improved the sustainability and scalability of our release engineering processes. For instance, .iso files stopped being produced by the "Sebastian manually builds them every time" process, and started being automatically generated for testing by Fedora build servers. We gained some instant automation of the infrastructure we need anyway, without any more work or maintenance on our part, so we could focus on things like... making Activities work, the stuff that's actually unique to Sugar.

Feature Freeze (in the Fedora 14 cycle, July 27, 2010) was a hard deadline for Spin approval, so it was significant that we got in before that (Fedora-imposed) deadline. If we'd missed that, we would not have been able to take advantage of Fedora's engineering, etc. resources at all for Mango Lassi.

Feature Freeze (in the Fedora 14 cycle, 27 July 2010) was a hard deadline for Spin approval, so it was significant that we got in before that (Fedora-imposed) deadline. If we'd missed that, we would not have been able to take advantage of Fedora's engineering, etc. resources at all for Mango Lassi.

=== Feature process ===

=== Feature process ===

The main point made here is that unlike two of our major upstreams (Sugar and Fedora) we ''didn't'' have a feature freeze for SoaS, but should have around this time.

The main point made here is that unlike two of our major upstreams (Sugar and Fedora) we ''didn't'' have a feature freeze for SoaS, but should have, at around this time.

* '''July 27, 2010''' - [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Policy Fedora Feature Freeze]  

* '''July 27, 2010''' - [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Policy Fedora Feature Freeze]  

The way features happen in Fedora is that early in the release process, developers propose features, and they are approved by a feature freeze date (which is before the alpha release). They have to meet certain criteria by certain deadlines - if they don't, they're dropped and not eligible for mention as features. Major features must be in and testable by Alpha; minor changes need to be in and testable by Beta, after Beta it's only bugfixes allowed.

The way features happen in Fedora is that early in the release process, developers propose features, and they are approved by a feature freeze date (which is before the alpha release). They have to meet certain criteria by certain deadlines - if they don't, they're dropped and not eligible for mention as features. Major features must be in and testable by Alpha; minor changes need to be in and testable by Beta, after Beta only bugfixes are allowed.

This feature process is not unique to Fedora. Feature processes are things that happen in basically every major FOSS project, and really in every major engineering project (even non-software) - it's how we systematically make sure we build something that's good and working.

This feature process is not unique to Fedora. Feature processes are things that happen in basically every major FOSS project, and really in every major engineering project (even non-software) - it's how we systematically make sure we build something that's good and working.

The feature process also aids with marketing. The Marketing team in Fedora makes their plans according to the feature list that's set by Alpha - this lets us plan how to target what features early in the process.  

The feature process also aids with marketing. The Marketing team in Fedora makes their plans according to the feature list that's set by Alpha - this lets us plan how to target those features early in the process.  

Since SoaS relies on both Sugar and Fedora as upstreams, we rely on their feature processes - most SoaS features come from either Fedora features or Sugar features. (For reference, our main upstreams are Fedora, Sugar Labs (sugar-core), ASLO (Activities), GNOME, and Python.) For v4, we built the release using a lightweight feature process for SoaS that inherits from those two upstreams.

Since SoaS relies on both Sugar and Fedora as upstreams, we rely on their feature processes - most SoaS features come from either Fedora features or Sugar features. (For reference, our main upstreams are Fedora, Sugar Labs (sugar-core), ASLO (Activities), GNOME, and Python.) For v4, we built the release using a lightweight feature process for SoaS that inherits from those two upstreams.

=== Documentation ===

=== Documentation ===

We now have a [http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/ Customization Guide] and [http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/creation-kit/ Creation Kit] as official documentation on how to custom-build an image and burn a SoaS stick, respectively. A new release of the documentation will come out with each new release of SoaS. This is an improvement over our ad-hoc wiki documentation methods, allowing us to better support a small number of known-working "how to set up SoaS" instructions.

We now have a [http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/customization-guide/ Customization Guide] and [http://download.sugarlabs.org/soas/docs/creation-kit/ Creation Kit] as official documentation on how to custom-build an image and burn a SoaS stick, respectively. A new release of the documentation should come out with each new release of SoaS (although resources have prevented this). This may not be an improvement over our ad hoc wiki documentation methods, as the tools to participate are more complicated and not freely open sourced.  The Fedora Sugar on a Stick pages have not been edited since Mirabelle was released in May 2010.  The attempt to better support a small number of known-working "how to set up SoaS" instructions has not been fulfilled.

=== Release and Marketing ===

=== Release and Marketing ===

Mango Lassi was released on November 2, 2010. It's shiny! It's orange! It had over 50 downloads within the 12 hours of release.

Mango Lassi was released on 02 November 2010. It's shiny! It's orange! It had over 50 downloads within the 12 hours of release.

We have a [http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas shiny user-facing page] as well as a [[Sugar on a Stick|Contributors Portal]], to serve (and hopefully link) the two different audiences. We hope most people will want to wear both hats, in part.

We have a [http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas shiny user-facing page] as well as a [[Sugar on a Stick|Contributors Portal]], to serve (and hopefully link) the two different audiences. We hope most people will want to wear both hats, in part.