[Buildroot] Call for autobuild fixing for 2013.11

[Thomas De Schampheleire]

All,

Now that 2013.11-rc1 is out, we have until the end of the month to fix
remaining problems until 2013.11 is released.

The autobuilders are still finding a lot of problems.
Several developers are already looking at and fixing these problems,
which is great. However, we can do much better.

Therefore, I would like to request all developers to temporarily stop
creating new features, adding new packages, etc. during the rest of
this month, and focus on fixing autobuild problems (or other fixes)
instead. With a joint effort I am sure we can fix many problems.

The autobuild website is at http://autobuild.buildroot.org/, the
statistics are at http://autobuild.buildroot.org/stats.php
[currently this site seems to be down]
There is also a daily mail sent to the list with the overview of the
succeeding/failing builds.

To fix a problem, you would start by downloading the defconfig from
the autobuild site, apply it in a fresh repository, probably set a
good value for BR2_DL_DIR, and run 'make' to see if you can reproduce
the problem. Once you can reproduce it, you can analyze in more detail
and create a fix.

Depending on the problem, you can attempt some shortcuts. For example
instead of building everything, you can request to build one
particular package (foo) by running 'make toolchain foo'. If the
problem is caused only by the overall configuration and foo itself
(not by a missing dependency) this faster build would also show the
problem. Remember: it's crucial that you can first reproduce the
problem (with or without shortcut). Otherwise you may 'fix' something
that is not broken.

If you want to fix a particular problem but get stuck, don't hesitate
in sending your findings to the list. Other developers can try to help
you.

Thanks a lot,

Thomas