Author: Steffen Allner

I am a software developer at minddistrict. In my former life I dwelt in the realm of analytical chemistry and determined the ages of minerals. Later on I switched over to software craftsmanship with a focus on Python, Zope and Pyramid.

The final teardown

After writing so many teardowns in tests for software projects for customers, open source projects and in house software, it is now time for the gocept folks to finally work on a last teardown of the company itself. After 23 years of existence gocept will close the doors and stop operating business at 2023-11-30. The developers found a new home at the wonderful company Minddistrict. There we will work in a product team and build software to empower people to take care of their mental well-being.

Customers

We want to thank all our customers for their trust in us over the years and for the often multi year long collaboration. Sometimes gocept was a bit on the bleeding edge of technology and often that was shining through in the development work. But we did our best to provide the individual software applications to the needs of our customers.

Open Source Software

It was in the very essence of gocept to work with open source software. The company grew with Zope and contributed to the Zope ecosystem. Out of this relationship many events were supported like DZUG-Tagung, a EuroPython Conference and in particular in the last years a round of Zope sprint to ensure compatibility and stability in the Python 3 wonderland. We are very happy, that Minddistrict also builds its core product on zope.* packages and that we can further contribute to the open source world.

Most of the gocept.* packages on https://github.com/gocept have been archived or given to the people and companies, that still use them. In case you need to work with them, please contact mail@gocept.com or the respective maintainers on PyPI. We will be able to unarchive the package and if necessary transfer the release rights.

gocept folks

Some parts of gocept already left the company in 2014 and formed https://flyingcircus.io/. They are more successful than ever providing a very good and individual hosting and, more important, operation solutions for bigger applications and complex setups. They took over the dedication to software and to new technology, and they are good colleagues to work with.

The remaining 4 developers at gocept join the Minddistrict company and will work there in a bigger team to empower people to take care of their mental well-being in the Netherlands, in Germany and the DACH-region. We will still keep an office in Halle, so there might be a chance to stop by.

The last Christian of gocept (in a row of many) will continue his management work within the Saltlabs and the Koffij – with the mission to develop modern, contemporary and flexible workplaces in Halle and build communities that motivate and offer pleasant working environments.

gocept.cleanup()

In case you need anything or want to reach us, please find us on GitHub (or the place to be in the future) or write an email to mail@gocept.com.

Announcing Zope Autumn Sprint 2020

Earl Zope was very delighted that in May 2020 a few of his principal supporters gathered around the virtual campfire due to the pandemic situation and improve the welfare in Python 3 Wonderland. The supporters agreed at this very campfire to meet again in 2020 to crown the newly Earl Zope V. Hope is put into the upcoming relationship between Earl Zope V. and Prince Plone VI., that those two will bring a prosperous future for their respective countries.

As the finial release of Zope 5 was scheduled roughly for September 2020 here, we consulted the time schedule at gocept and found the 28th of September to be a good date. As the pandemic situation is still around we propose another remote sprint. As it was discussed earlier, a remote sprint has less organizational overhead, so even one day is a valid option and should help us with the release process.

Goals

The main goal is to release Zope 5 final, so that Plone 6 can be released later this year with this version of Zope. There is a project on Github with the relevant tickets. In case you want to work already on some of those tickets, feel free to contribute beforehand, or add further ideas to the list.

In addition to this big goal the unification of the testing environment is always an open task.

Organisation

In May, we lit our campfires at slack and zoom. To keep up with this good, low-barrier solution, we request you to join via Meetup, so we can prepare the invitation on time.

Zope Spring Cleaning: Last minute information

As the beta permission of Earl Zope in Python 3 wonderland was extended in October 2018, gocept invites Zope developers to the upcoming sprint from 08.05. till 10.05.2019 in Halle (Saale), Germany, to continue together on the work, which is still left.

We aim to polish the last dusty spots on Earl Zope for the final permission to Python 3 wonderland aka the final 4.0 release. As Plone and other applications based on Zope have finally found a way to migrate a ZODB Data.fs created with Python 2 to Python 3, the obstacles for this final permit are almost gone.

So if you have questions concerning migrating databases, it is a good time to join or open an issue on GitHub. As many people are working on Zope during these days, the probability of a quick answer is high.

As organizational tool to coordinate the work, we use GitHub projects again, as it allows cross-repository tracking of issues.

Our current schedule:

  • Wednesday
    • 8:15 Breakfast at gocept kitchen
    • 9:00 Welcome at gocept office and start sprinting afterwards
    • 12:30 Lunch
    • 13:30 Happy sprinting
    • between 15:00 and 16:00 coffee break
    • 18:00 Lights out
    • Going to a local pub
  • Thursday:
    • 8:15 Breakfast
    • 9:00 Standup
    • 12:30 Lunch
    • 13:30 Happy sprinting
    • between 15:00 and 16:00 coffee break
    • 17:00 A game of boules if the weather permits it
    • Going to a local pub
  • Friday:
    • 8:15 Breakfast
    • 9:00 Standup
    • 12:30 Lunch
    • 13:30 Happy sprinting
    • 15:00 Closing meeting
    • 16:00 Lights out

Parking: As Saltlabs in located in a pedestrian zone, the availability of parking spots is rather low. Please use one of the parking decks nearby.

One last hint: The location of the sprint is Leipziger Str. 70, Halle (Saale), Germany.

Last call for take off to the Python 3 wonderland

Last information for Zope 2 Resurrection Sprint

We are approaching the Zope 2 Resurrection Sprint and hope that all those who are willing to help earl Zope II on his endeavor to port his realm have already prepared there horses and packed the necessary equipment to arrive in Halle (Saale), Germany.

To help with the preparations we have set up some means of communication:

Etherpad

In the Etherpad we have collected a fundamental set of obstacles that the immigration authority of Python 3 wonderland send to earl Zope II via a mounted messenger. If there are additional problems we need to solve with the immigration or other authorities, feel free to point those out in the pad.

IRC Channel

During the sprint we will have an owl waiting for messages in the #sprint channel on irc.freenode.net, so additional information and questions can be placed there.

General Schedule

In general the gates of the gocept manor in Halle (Saale) are open from 8:00 till 18:00 during the sprint for the squires to help earl Zope II. There will be some refreshments in the morning (8:00 – 9:00) and during lunch time (12:00 – 13:00) in order to keep everyone happy and content.

Apart from that, there will be some fixed points in time to meet:

  • Monday 2017-05-01
    • 19:00 CEST, pre-sprint get-together for early arrivals at Anny Kilkenny. Attention: There will be a bigger political demonstration in Halle which might impact the arrival here, take that into consideration.
  • Tuesday 2017-05-02
    • 9:00 CEST, official welcome and sprint planning afterwards.
    • 16:30-17:30 CEST, Discussion: TBD
    • 18:00 CEST, guided tour through the city of Halle, meeting point
    • 19:30 CEST, dinner and get-together at Wenzels Bierstuben, location, separate bills
  • Wednesday 2017-05-03
    • 9:00 CEST, daily meeting and review
    • 16:30-18:00 CEST, Discussion: TDB
    • 19:00 CEST, BBQ evening in the lovely garden at gocept manor
  • Thursday 2017-05-04
  • Friday 2017-05-05
    • 9:00 CEST, daily meeting and review
    • 13:00 CEST, sprint closing session with review and possibility to present lightning talks of your projects.

We are looking forward to the sprint and hope to overcome the remaining migration problems of earl Zope II.

Last minute information for remote Sprinters for the Zope Resurrection Sprint

As the Zope Resurrection sprint is approaching, it seems useful to share some information on the schedule for the three days in Halle. As we have also some sprinters, who can not join on site, but might want to join remotely, a few key facts might come in handy.

Etherpad

There is the Etherpad, where the current list of topics is collected. Most of the stories we are going to tackle will be based on this list. In case you have something to add, or are interested in a specific topic in particular, it is a good idea to add your thoughts before the start of the sprint.

IRC Channel

During the sprint we will communicate via the #sprint channel on irc.freenode.net, so additional information and questions can be placed there.

Google Hangout

As the sprint is also intended to foster discussions about the future of Zope, we want to encourage as many people as possible to join. Therefore, we have a hangout where we will meet.

Scheduled Discussions

At the moment we plan the following session:

  • Wednesday 2016-09-28 10:00 CEST, duration 1 h: Introduction to WSGI in Zope 4 by Hanno Schlichting (hannosh) + discussion
  • Wednesday 2016-09-28 14:00 CEST, duration 2 h: Discussion about through-the web (TTW) pattern and the underlying RestrictedPython
  • Thursday 2016-09-29 10:00 CEST, duration 0.5 h: Discussion about the necessity and future of ZTK
  • Friday 2016-09-30 14:00 CEST, duration 1 h: Discussion about the Zope 5

So in case you want to contribute remotely to the sprint, please join us on one of the three ways.