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Register email for development

I work in the IT / Development department, where the only method to notify code changes is to send an email to the team ( development@company.com ). Thus, we have many letters.

I would like to set up an email group so that all emails sent to the group are stored in one place. We are using Exchange, so I thought about having them automatically saved to the Exchange online folder. Unfortunately, I was told that these exchange folders are no longer the latest version of Exchange.

My second choice is an internal blog like Wordpress where all emails are posted, flagged and searchable.

  • Does anyone have blogging software for recording group emails?
  • What other methods have you used to register these emails?

Please note: I'm in the process of setting up a bug tracker, but I'm sure it will take some time to get developers to use it. At the same time, I need this different method.

Update

Note:

  • We have no version control (and no chance of this happening)
  • We do not have bug / bug tracking, but I hope to get them before the end of the year.
  • The people I work with are all too often used to email notifications of changes they make. Keeping emails in one place for searching would be ideal.
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Can't set up a new email for example. developmentcodechanges@company.com and this mailbox is shared, so any developer can look into this mailbox, but it doesn't litter every developer mailbox. Where I work, we have an Application Logging mailbox that is used in such a way that different people can step on what is going on, and at the same time it does not clog up the personal mailbox.

We have several ways to notify each other of a code change besides observing the original control:



1) Continuous machine integration. When someone checks in new code a build is triggered and it could be something we developers see with something like CCTray.

2) Messengers. Things like Twitter or Microsoft Office Communicator are a way to send a note to everyone else that something has changed.

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Well, most email list packages (mailman, etc.) have archiving features and ways to view archives, as well as their own ways to manage users.



Perhaps one of them works with exchange and frees exchange-mgr from administering list mutations

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The biggest problem is the lack of a configuration management system. This means source code versioning (like Subversion) plus processes for change, integration and release management. So you don't get someone adding unverified code just before the final build, or fixes are lost because Bill saves his changes on top of those already made by Joe. Saying "no chance of getting it" is a denial of responsibility. This is your top priority in terms of quality and efficiency. Build a business case around the costs and risks of your current non-system and pass them on to senior management.

Then get yourself a decent issue tracking system. As with CM systems, there are many free ones around. Email messages are not scalable.

Once you have a bug tracker, link your CM system to it by putting the appropriate issue number in the comment field for each delta. Then you can write a Perl script to tell you what problems have been fixed in any branch and use its reports to update the problems in the tracker. It is only when you do that that you know what happened in the next release.

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With the risk of a sticky feeling ... Is Cant Tweeter an option for this?

Not your personal twitter account, but some kind of business service where developers get quick and concise notification of what's going on.

I thought about this for our small group - just to keep everyone in touch with what people are working on and if they run into problems or get stuck

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The question is, why do you want to notify people about code changes? What is the use of this information for developers?

I've seen it where a developer can subscribe to changes in a specific part of the source control tree and it made some sense. I'm not sure why you need everyone to be notified of every control in every part of your application.

Also, if all of the notification methods come from your source control system, and if the source control system already contains a list of all the changes, then why do you need to log emails that are the result of changes that control the source code the system is already tracking?

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We have no source of control

How do your developers share code without source control? Do they email patches or change files? Can they handle it without creating immense pain for everyone?

(and there is no chance that this will happen)

I appreciate how difficult it is to change the way you work, but version control and bug tracking software are two "must-haves" for a sane development environment.

If your developers can access a network share, try Mercurial . It only takes a few minutes to set up, and if you have access to the network file, it doesn't need a server process. There is a great tutorial here by Joel Spolsky: hginit .

Emails are intercepted by log messages on commit.

If you really can't stop your developers from changing their email code, you can at least get them for email patches containing Mercurial changesets. Eventually they figure out which is easier to get out of the Mercurial quota, and you will successfully introduce stealth code control.

Does anyone have blogging software for recording group emails? What other methods have you used to register these emails?

For over 20 years as a software developer, I have never worked anywhere that used emails instead of a source control system.

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