Meeting on April 6, 2009

Agenda

1. Attendance
2. Announce agenda
3. Approve March 9, 2009 Meeting Notes. Ask for review and address any problems seen in the notes.
4. Follow up on Google Summer of Code.
5. Linux builds and new plug-in module loading.
6. New feature builds.
7. Open Questions
8. Summary and closing

Notes

Attendance

• tclarke
• raevans
• dsulgrov
• goffena
• kstreith
• mconsidi
• dadkins
• gmartin_cn (partial)

Summary

Opticks applied to the Google Summer of Code as a mentoring organization but was rejected. kstreith received some feedback from Google so we can submit a better application next year.

The Linux branch is being integrated into to trunk and is currently available in a branch. Linux will not become an officially supported platform but attempts will be made to ensure basic functionality is preserved. Volunteers are needed to make unofficial release builds and to test Opticks on Linux. Please send an email to dev@opticks.ballforge.net if you are interested.

The Linux branch introduces a new plug-in module loading mechanism. We are attempted to preserve the old loading mechanism as a deprecated feature and changing to the new mechanism should be easy. It will provide additional benefits such as debug/release checking on Windows.

Builds of in-progress features are being published to http://builds.ballforge.net Users and developers are encouraged to try these out before they are merged to the trunk and provide feedback. goffena has provided feeback on OPTICKS-293 and OPTICKS-349 which has help up locate a couple of bugs before the code was merged.

Core developers provided summaries of some of the new features in development for 4.3.0. See the logs below or JIRA for details. The current release schedule for Opticks 4.3.0 can be found here.

Decisions

Logs

2009-04-06T11:14:09 <tclarke> ok time to get started...sorry for the delay
2009-04-06T11:14:12 <tclarke> kstreith and dsulgrov were finishing something up
2009-04-06T11:14:15 <tclarke> lets take attendance
2009-04-06T11:14:15 <tclarke> here
2009-04-06T11:14:17 <raevans> here
2009-04-06T11:15:33 <dsulgrov> here
2009-04-06T11:15:44 <goffena> here
2009-04-06T11:15:45 <kstreith> here
2009-04-06T11:15:48 <mconsidi> here
2009-04-06T11:15:50 <|dadkins|> here
2009-04-06T11:15:52 <tclarke> Agenda
2009-04-06T11:15:52 <tclarke> 1. Attendance
2009-04-06T11:15:52 <tclarke> 2. Announce agenda
2009-04-06T11:15:52 <tclarke> 3. Approve March 9, 2009 Meeting Notes. Ask for review and address any problems seen in the notes.
2009-04-06T11:15:53 <tclarke> 4. Follow up on Google Summer of Code.
2009-04-06T11:15:53 <tclarke> 5. Linux builds and new plug-in module loading.
2009-04-06T11:15:53 <tclarke> 6. New feature builds.
2009-04-06T11:15:54 <tclarke> 7. Open Questions
2009-04-06T11:15:55 <tclarke> 8. Summary and closing
2009-04-06T11:16:05 <tclarke> ok, since there wasn't a meeting last time, we'll approve the March 9 notes
2009-04-06T11:16:06 <tclarke> https://wiki.ballforge.net/confluence/display/opticksChat/March+9%2C+2009+Meeting+Notes
2009-04-06T11:16:19 <tclarke> I'll give everyone a couple of minutes to check them over then we'll move on, if you find a mistake later in the meeting speak up
2009-04-06T11:18:09 <tclarke> ok, let's move on
2009-04-06T11:18:13 <tclarke> next item is a follow up on Google SoC
2009-04-06T11:18:15 <tclarke> I'll turn this over to kstreith
2009-04-06T11:18:24 <kstreith> I applied Opticks as a mentoring organization
2009-04-06T11:18:27 <kstreith> our application was NOT one of the ones that was accepted
2009-04-06T11:20:10 <kstreith> i was told that our wiki page that listed our ideas was too new
2009-04-06T11:20:22 <kstreith> and I was told that our ideas page did not have enough detail/links to the Opticks specifics that would need to touched
2009-04-06T11:20:26 <kstreith> and those were the primary reasons that our application was not accepted
2009-04-06T11:20:30 <kstreith> so, room for improvement for next year's application
2009-04-06T11:20:31 <kstreith> done.
2009-04-06T11:20:39 <tclarke> ok, anyone else want to say anthing about SoC/
2009-04-06T11:20:39 <tclarke> ?
2009-04-06T11:20:47 <tclarke> ok, next topic
2009-04-06T11:20:51 <tclarke> Opticks on Linux and the new plug-in loading system
2009-04-06T11:21:01 <tclarke> we are integrating the Linux changes until OPTICKS-284
2009-04-06T11:21:05 <tclarke> and this includes an update of the plug-in module loading system
2009-04-06T11:22:33 <tclarke> I'd encourage everyone to keep an eye on this branch as it progresses as it will effect all plug-ins...we'll be sending emails to the list at key points
2009-04-06T11:22:41 <tclarke> we're doing what we can to maintain the existing loading mechanism as a deprecated feature
2009-04-06T11:23:02 <tclarke> we're also making the new mechanism very easy to switch too...ModuleManager.cpp will be significantly less code and will not need to be changed when new plug-ins are added
2009-04-06T11:23:14 <tclarke> the new system will also allow us to encoding debug/release information into the plug-ins so we can detect when there is a mismatch (which causes crashes on windows)
2009-04-06T11:24:38 <tclarke> as for linux support, it will not (at least initially) be an officially supported platform
2009-04-06T11:24:46 <tclarke> there will be no official builds and the Ball testers will no do anything with linux builds
2009-04-06T11:24:57 <gmartin_cn> sorry - here
2009-04-06T11:24:59 <tclarke> we are looking into setting up nightly linux builds including running unit tests to try and catch potential problems
2009-04-06T11:25:17 <tclarke> we may also have unofficial linux releases but they will likely be built and tested on a volunteer basis so they may not stay entirely up to date
2009-04-06T11:25:18 <tclarke> any questions/
2009-04-06T11:25:19 <tclarke> ?
2009-04-06T11:26:53 <tclarke> ok, on to the next topic
2009-04-06T11:26:54 <tclarke> new feature builds
2009-04-06T11:27:08 <tclarke> last week there were some emails re: builds of new feature branches on builds.ballforge.net
2009-04-06T11:27:20 <tclarke> there was a positive response to these so we are planning on pushing branch builds of new features for evaluation while they are in development
2009-04-06T11:27:28 <tclarke> not every JIRA issue will have a build, just large features
2009-04-06T11:27:42 <tclarke> I'd like to take a moment for the core devs to briefly discuss the new features they are working now so everyone has an idea what is coming for 4.3.0
2009-04-06T11:27:44 <tclarke> I'll start
2009-04-06T11:27:51 <tclarke> There's a new ballforge project http://extras.ballforge.net (JIRA project EXTRAS)
2009-04-06T11:29:09 <tclarke> this will contain plug-ins supported by the core team but not a part of core opticks...optional add-ons, etc.
2009-04-06T11:29:15 <tclarke> the first extension will be an interactive (and batch mode) IDL interpreter extension to Opticks
2009-04-06T11:29:22 <tclarke> you can see design info in JIRA (EXTRA-1) and there's some code checked in to the new subversion repo
2009-04-06T11:29:28 <tclarke> it will support moving raster cubes to and from IDL
2009-04-06T11:29:33 <tclarke> as well as some basic animation and view control
2009-04-06T11:29:36 <tclarke> ok, I'll let someone else jump in now
2009-04-06T11:29:57 <|dadkins|> OPTICKS-487: Support for large (*> 4 GB) NITF files and large images without big chunks of available RAM
2009-04-06T11:32:00 <tclarke> ok, who else?
2009-04-06T11:32:05 <kstreith> Qt 4.5.0
2009-04-06T11:32:11 <kstreith> i'll be upgrading Opticks to the latest version of Qt (4.5.0)
2009-04-06T11:32:17 <kstreith> this means we'll be moving to the LGPL licensed version of Qt
2009-04-06T11:32:22 <kstreith> so dependencies.py will be able to auto-fetch Qt now. Yeah!
2009-04-06T11:33:50 <dsulgrov> OPTICKS-455 involves changes to the wizard builder...
2009-04-06T11:33:50 <kstreith> I'm also working on integrating a signal blocking patch that Todd Johnson provided me
2009-04-06T11:34:14 <raevans> I'll be adding the capability to show a error dialog that the user can mark as non-showable(OPTICKS-178)
2009-04-06T11:34:21 <raevans> This is currently in code review
2009-04-06T11:34:33 <dsulgrov> for OPTICKS-455, the selected wizard item node widgets on the right-hand side of the wizard builder window will be removed and a tree view of available items will be added...
2009-04-06T11:36:07 <dsulgrov> users will be able to drag and drop multiple new items onto a wizard
2009-04-06T11:36:20 <dsulgrov> there will also be a zoom capability and added documentation
2009-04-06T11:36:40 <dsulgrov> OPTICKS-349 involves adding capability for the user to select multiple files to import in the Import dialog...
2009-04-06T11:36:54 <dsulgrov> the import options dialog will also be upgraded to show which data sets in which files are valid to import
2009-04-06T11:38:16 <dsulgrov> the preview capability will also be upgraded to support multiple selected files
2009-04-06T11:38:43 <tclarke> ok, anyone else have anything they want to mention?
2009-04-06T11:38:45 <raevans> I'm also working on changing the movie export subset options to something more intuitive to users(OPTICKS-291)
2009-04-06T11:38:50 <tclarke> I'll be adding a few new wizard items to expose some user capability to wizards
2009-04-06T11:39:04 <kstreith> i've already made a change to reduce the amount of times that plug-ins are loaded during start-up
2009-04-06T11:39:07 <tclarke> rforehan is not here today but he's working on new animation "bumper" capability...this is what was released to the builds server last week so you can look at a test build for more information
2009-04-06T11:40:29 <kstreith> this should speed up app start, but I may be working with Todd Johnson to speed it up even further
2009-04-06T11:40:48 <tclarke> I think covers the major features...keep an eye on the JIRA release schedule for more information
2009-04-06T11:40:51 <tclarke> lets move onto open questions
2009-04-06T11:41:09 <kstreith> you can see what's target for 4.3.0 at the following address: https://issues.ballforge.net/jira/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?reset=true&pid=10190&fixfor=10406
2009-04-06T11:41:10 <tclarke> I'd like to add something to the linux discussion....if anyone is interested in generating builds for linux or testing on linux, send an email to the dev list (or mention now)...we'
2009-04-06T11:41:15 <tclarke> d love to have volunteers to help out in the future
2009-04-06T11:43:03 <tclarke> ok, last chance for misc business or for problems with March 9 meeting notes
2009-04-06T11:43:06 <tclarke> going once
2009-04-06T11:43:10 <tclarke> twice
2009-04-06T11:43:14 <dsulgrov> wait
2009-04-06T11:43:15 <tclarke> ok
2009-04-06T11:43:17 <tclarke> go ahead when ready
2009-04-06T11:43:23 <dsulgrov> I'd like to thank goffena for his feedback on the OPTICKS-293 and OPTICKS-349 pre-release builds
2009-04-06T11:43:31 <dsulgrov> it has really helped us to catch a few minor problems
2009-04-06T11:43:31 <tclarke> yes...it was quite helpfull and saved us another JIRA issue to fix a couple of problems
2009-04-06T11:43:36 <dsulgrov> thanks goffena
2009-04-06T11:43:37 <goffena> good to know it was helpful
2009-04-06T11:45:05 <tclarke> it's pretty easy to install these branch builds so I'll encourage everyone to try out new features as they are published
2009-04-06T11:45:38 <tclarke> ok, anything else?
2009-04-06T11:45:45 <tclarke> meeting adjourned...I'll post the notes and send out an email....see everyone in two weeks