[GRASS5] New GRASS addons CVS repository?

Hi,

Martin Wegmann and me would like to suggest to
open a new "addons" CVS repository in parallel
to grass6/.
We are receiving more frequently now new code
submissions which may need to be worked on.
An example is r.li where other parties want to
add more fragmentation indices etc. Since r.li
with a single index isn't ready for the main
CVS in my opinion, we should help people to
use the CVS capabilities for distributed
development. However, we should also seek to
accumulate good stuff in a single place rather
than having pieces scattered over the internet.

Suggestions:
- add new GRASS Extensions Manager (GEM) to main CVS
  when available and functional
- create new "addons" (or however named) repo to
  CVS
- use this as "incubator" (Apache speech)
- people can use GEM to add stuff from addons into
  their copy of GRASS
- move stable code, if of interest to the general
  GRASS community, into main CVS repo

This is very similar to the old src.contrib/ in GRASS
4.x and 5.x. But in this case it would be a separate
CVS repository to not fill the main CVS repo with
less relevant or unmaintained code.

r.lake, r.li and other goodies from the addons section
are good candidates for a new "addons" CVS repository.

Opinions welcome...

Markus

Martin Wegmann and me would like to suggest to
open a new "addons" CVS repository in parallel
to grass6/.

horray! One thing I worry about the add-ons wiki page is code vanishing
when a personal URL link goes down.

- create new "addons" (or however named) repo to
  CVS

contrib? experimental? shrug

- people can use GEM to add stuff from addons into
  their copy of GRASS

requires all add-ons to figure out a GEM makefile, but that can be
done with help once in the CVS

- move stable code, if of interest to the general
  GRASS community, into main CVS repo

grass6/ is restricted to GPL, often code the GEM will integrate may
not be GPL. Will grass6-addons/ (or whatever) CVS be limited to GPL?
How to police that or at least keep the module's license clear?
A "COPYRIGHT" file required in every module's main dir?
(e.g. the viewshed module?)

Opinions welcome...

The nice thing about the Wiki is the low barrier to entry to anyone.
Can submitters to the new repo be given rights to their own dir or do
they need general write permission on everything at Intevation's CVS?

Hamish

On 3/19/06, Markus Neteler <neteler@itc.it> wrote:

Hi,

Martin Wegmann and me would like to suggest to
open a new "addons" CVS repository in parallel
to grass6/.
We are receiving more frequently now new code
submissions which may need to be worked on.
An example is r.li where other parties want to
add more fragmentation indices etc. Since r.li
with a single index isn't ready for the main
CVS in my opinion, we should help people to
use the CVS capabilities for distributed
development. However, we should also seek to
accumulate good stuff in a single place rather
than having pieces scattered over the internet.

Suggestions:
- add new GRASS Extensions Manager (GEM) to main CVS
  when available and functional

Yes GEM should be added to CVS.

- create new "addons" (or however named) repo to
  CVS

I think that CVS is too rigid for this purpose. I think that to add
a new or modified new module to the repository should be
as easy as possible, something like Wiki where everybody
can register and add a module.
We cannot give CVS account to everybody who wrote a simple
script but we want to make the script available for everybody.

When a module is mature enough and it is of general purpose
it can be added directly to GRASS CVS.

Radim

- use this as "incubator" (Apache speech)
- people can use GEM to add stuff from addons into
  their copy of GRASS
- move stable code, if of interest to the general
  GRASS community, into main CVS repo

This is very similar to the old src.contrib/ in GRASS
4.x and 5.x. But in this case it would be a separate
CVS repository to not fill the main CVS repo with
less relevant or unmaintained code.

r.lake, r.li and other goodies from the addons section
are good candidates for a new "addons" CVS repository.

Opinions welcome...

Markus

_______________________________________________
grass5 mailing list
grass5@grass.itc.it
http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5

On Monday 20 March 2006 09:33, Radim Blazek wrote:

On 3/19/06, Markus Neteler <neteler@itc.it> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Martin Wegmann and me would like to suggest to
> open a new "addons" CVS repository in parallel
> to grass6/.
> We are receiving more frequently now new code
> submissions which may need to be worked on.
> An example is r.li where other parties want to
> add more fragmentation indices etc. Since r.li
> with a single index isn't ready for the main
> CVS in my opinion, we should help people to
> use the CVS capabilities for distributed
> development. However, we should also seek to
> accumulate good stuff in a single place rather
> than having pieces scattered over the internet.
>
> Suggestions:
> - add new GRASS Extensions Manager (GEM) to main CVS
> when available and functional

Yes GEM should be added to CVS.

> - create new "addons" (or however named) repo to
> CVS

I think that CVS is too rigid for this purpose. I think that to add
a new or modified new module to the repository should be
as easy as possible, something like Wiki where everybody
can register and add a module.
We cannot give CVS account to everybody who wrote a simple
script but we want to make the script available for everybody.

I think first it has to be discussed if /addons should be just a place to
store scripts or rather to store whole modules for one task (e.g. landscape
analysis, hydrology etc.) which can be loaded afterwards via GEM if needed.
For scripts an /addons repository would be too much but for GRASS function
bundles it is appropriate.
This would make the main GRASS more slim and each additional function has to
be loaded like in R.

I think these GRASS function bundles need to have a central place where they
can be developed like in cvs or svn and not lost over time. However your
point that everybody can not granted cvs access is understandable - either
there does an alternative exist (separate cvs system for add-ons) or a
totally different system to manage these files (e.g. wiki or webcollab
http://webcollab.sourceforge.net/index.html but this is rather for single
file development). But the latter option would not allow a "real continuous"
development like cvs/svn.
The complexity of cvs (installation/usage) has to be kept in mind as well, but
I am not aware of any easy alternative where somebody can develop code like
in cvs.

Does anybody know how R is managing its /contrib repositories? Does a person
exist who add new modules to cvs which he receives from contributing users?
Or does every person has access to the repository?

regards, Martin

When a module is mature enough and it is of general purpose
it can be added directly to GRASS CVS.

> - use this as "incubator" (Apache speech)
> - people can use GEM to add stuff from addons into
> their copy of GRASS
> - move stable code, if of interest to the general
> GRASS community, into main CVS repo
>
> This is very similar to the old src.contrib/ in GRASS
> 4.x and 5.x. But in this case it would be a separate
> CVS repository to not fill the main CVS repo with
> less relevant or unmaintained code.
>
> r.lake, r.li and other goodies from the addons section
> are good candidates for a new "addons" CVS repository.
>
> Opinions welcome...
>
> Markus
>
> _______________________________________________
> grass5 mailing list
> grass5@grass.itc.it
> http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5

_______________________________________________
grass5 mailing list
grass5@grass.itc.it
http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5

--
Martin Wegmann

DLR - German Aerospace Center
German Remote Sensing Data Center
@
Dept.of Geography
Remote Sensing and Biodiversity Unit
&&
Dept. of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology
University of Wuerzburg
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg

phone: +49-(0)931 - 888 4797
mobile: +49-(0)175 2091725
fax: +49-(0)931 - 888 4961
http://www.biota-africa.org
http://www.biogis.de

On Mon, Mar 20, 2006 at 02:07:02PM +0100, Martin Wegmann wrote:

On Monday 20 March 2006 09:33, Radim Blazek wrote:
> On 3/19/06, Markus Neteler <neteler@itc.it> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Martin Wegmann and me would like to suggest to
> > open a new "addons" CVS repository in parallel
> > to grass6/.
> > We are receiving more frequently now new code
> > submissions which may need to be worked on.
> > An example is r.li where other parties want to
> > add more fragmentation indices etc. Since r.li
> > with a single index isn't ready for the main
> > CVS in my opinion, we should help people to
> > use the CVS capabilities for distributed
> > development. However, we should also seek to
> > accumulate good stuff in a single place rather
> > than having pieces scattered over the internet.
> >
> > Suggestions:
> > - add new GRASS Extensions Manager (GEM) to main CVS
> > when available and functional
>
> Yes GEM should be added to CVS.
>
> > - create new "addons" (or however named) repo to
> > CVS
>
> I think that CVS is too rigid for this purpose. I think that to add
> a new or modified new module to the repository should be
> as easy as possible, something like Wiki where everybody
> can register and add a module.
> We cannot give CVS account to everybody who wrote a simple
> script but we want to make the script available for everybody.

I think first it has to be discussed if /addons should be just a place to
store scripts or rather to store whole modules for one task (e.g. landscape
analysis, hydrology etc.) which can be loaded afterwards via GEM if needed.
For scripts an /addons repository would be too much but for GRASS function
bundles it is appropriate.
This would make the main GRASS more slim and each additional function has to
be loaded like in R.

I think these GRASS function bundles need to have a central place where they
can be developed like in cvs or svn and not lost over time. However your
point that everybody can not granted cvs access is understandable - either

Of course CVS write access to the main repository will be handled
rather restrictive.
But suggestion below:

there does an alternative exist (separate cvs system for add-ons) or a
totally different system to manage these files (e.g. wiki or webcollab
http://webcollab.sourceforge.net/index.html but this is rather for single
file development). But the latter option would not allow a "real continuous"
development like cvs/svn.
The complexity of cvs (installation/usage) has to be kept in mind as well, but
I am not aware of any easy alternative where somebody can develop code like
in cvs.

Jan Wagner suggested offlist to me to think about SVN migration.
This will offer the possibility to grant write access on a
per-directory base.

In any case an extention manager PERSON is needed. Already today.

Does anybody know how R is managing its /contrib repositories? Does a person
exist who add new modules to cvs which he receives from contributing users?
Or does every person has access to the repository?

Maybe Roger has some insights.

Markus

regards, Martin

> When a module is mature enough and it is of general purpose
> it can be added directly to GRASS CVS.

>
> > - use this as "incubator" (Apache speech)
> > - people can use GEM to add stuff from addons into
> > their copy of GRASS
> > - move stable code, if of interest to the general
> > GRASS community, into main CVS repo
> >
> > This is very similar to the old src.contrib/ in GRASS
> > 4.x and 5.x. But in this case it would be a separate
> > CVS repository to not fill the main CVS repo with
> > less relevant or unmaintained code.
> >
> > r.lake, r.li and other goodies from the addons section
> > are good candidates for a new "addons" CVS repository.
> >
> > Opinions welcome...
> >
> > Markus
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > grass5 mailing list
> > grass5@grass.itc.it
> > http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5
>
> _______________________________________________
> grass5 mailing list
> grass5@grass.itc.it
> http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5

--
Martin Wegmann

DLR - German Aerospace Center
German Remote Sensing Data Center
@
Dept.of Geography
Remote Sensing and Biodiversity Unit
&&
Dept. of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology
University of Wuerzburg
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg

phone: +49-(0)931 - 888 4797
mobile: +49-(0)175 2091725
fax: +49-(0)931 - 888 4961
http://www.biota-africa.org
http://www.biogis.de

_______________________________________________
grass5 mailing list
grass5@grass.itc.it
http://grass.itc.it/mailman/listinfo/grass5

--
Markus Neteler <neteler itc it> http://mpa.itc.it
ITC-irst - Centro per la Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica
MPBA - Predictive Models for Biol. & Environ. Data Analysis
Via Sommarive, 18 - 38050 Povo (Trento), Italy

Sounds like a great plan. It should make it easier for people to contribute
and collaborate on code to expand GRASS capabilities.

Michael.
______________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402
USA

voice: 480-965-6262; fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton

From: Markus Neteler <neteler@itc.it>
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 20:41:53 +0100
To: grass developers list <grass5@grass.itc.it>
Subject: [GRASS5] New GRASS addons CVS repository?

Hi,

Martin Wegmann and me would like to suggest to
open a new "addons" CVS repository in parallel
to grass6/.
We are receiving more frequently now new code
submissions which may need to be worked on.
An example is r.li where other parties want to
add more fragmentation indices etc. Since r.li
with a single index isn't ready for the main
CVS in my opinion, we should help people to
use the CVS capabilities for distributed
development. However, we should also seek to
accumulate good stuff in a single place rather
than having pieces scattered over the internet.

Suggestions:
- add new GRASS Extensions Manager (GEM) to main CVS
  when available and functional
- create new "addons" (or however named) repo to
  CVS
- use this as "incubator" (Apache speech)
- people can use GEM to add stuff from addons into
  their copy of GRASS
- move stable code, if of interest to the general
  GRASS community, into main CVS repo

This is very similar to the old src.contrib/ in GRASS
4.x and 5.x. But in this case it would be a separate
CVS repository to not fill the main CVS repo with
less relevant or unmaintained code.

r.lake, r.li and other goodies from the addons section
are good candidates for a new "addons" CVS repository.

Opinions welcome...

Markus