We eagerly announce the second Joomla! Pizza Bugs and Fun event scheduled for the weekend of June 21 and 22. It's hard to believe that six months have passed since the first Joomla! Pizza Bug and Fun event. The first PBF helped finalize Joomla! 1.5 and, if all goes as planned, this second event will help prepare Joomla! 1.5.4 for release early in July.

This opportunity is not restricted to those who can code since there are a wide variety of important tasks that will be offered in a Joomla! Bazaar over the weekend. This is a great way for Joomla! developers, designers, site builders, and end users all over the world to give something back to the project and be able to claim "I helped make Joomla! better."

The Bugs

For our first PBF event, we targeted priority 1 and 2 bugs and tested the entire application. Since its release, Joomla! 1.5 has been very stable and there are no serious bugs to fix. But, there are a number of medium priority items that require patches and testing. If we are able to empty the tracker during the weekend, it would be an important accomplishment for the community.

The Joomla! Bazaar

You might be wondering what is the Joomla! Bazaar? A bazaar is a marketplace where stallholders display their wares to passers-by who can look at the goods on offer and maybe purchase something that catches their eye. It is also a reference to Eric S. Raymond's book "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" which sets out the model for open source development.

The Joomla! Pizza Bugs and Fun event will follow this bazaar metaphor. There will be a number of different virtual stalls where community members can browse tasks available from the bug squad, the documentation team, the translations working group, and so on. Stallholders will communicate via IRC channels and Skype group chats to help each participant find a perfect way to contribute to the project.

How can you help?

If you are willing to offer a venue for this event, sign up and the location will be included in event announcements. We also encourage groups as small as two, three, and four people to work together during the weekend. If you are not able to participate with a group, you can still join the event online. It will be great to see community members from all over the world working together. If you are interested in being a part of the Joomla! Pizza Bug and Fun event, Check the registration page on the wiki to see how you can get involved.

More information will soon follow, we have set up an informational area on the wiki. Consider participating. It is guaranteed to be a fun event and an honor to help improve Joomla!.