VTK/ARB

The text on this page is preliminary. It is subject to change.

Purpose

The VTK Architecture Review Board (ARB) is a group of individuals whose goal is to advance the technology in VTK by providing direction and oversight to the development of VTK. While the open-source nature of VTK allows natural progression via its many developers, the ARB seeks to balance the intentions of each small group of developers, ensuring that changes will benefit the community as a whole. The ARB serves the following functions:

• Maintain a roadmap of VTK including long-term plans.
• Make decisions on high-impact code changes to VTK.

Scope of ARB Intervention

Code changes with a high impact on developers and/or users should be reviewed by the ARB. The following are some guiding principles for deciding whether changes require ARB involvement:

• Will the change significantly affect backwards compatibility?
• Does the change cause a significant shift in the functionality and scope of VTK?
• Are there licensing issues with the code?

Smaller feature additions and bug fixes will not in general require ARB approval, although they should in most cases have an associated development plan (see the Managing the Development Process document).

Roles

The president organizes the meeting agenda and maintains the roadmap and the list of outstanding proposals requiring ARB intervention. He or she is also responsible for setting up ARB meeting times/places and ensuring that the goals of the meeting are accomplished. The president may invite individuals or groups who have submitted proposals to present their plans at ARB meetings.

The secretary keeps records of each meeting, assists in the setup of the meeting location and technology (e.g. projectors, video conferencing, etc.) required, and facilitates communication of proposals to the ARB, as well as decisions from the ARB back to the community.

Meetings

The ARB will meet on a schedule of their choosing and convenience, but at least once a quarter. The ARB may meet informally at any time as the need arises to evaluate proposals.

Conflict Resolution

Conflicts will be resolved by discussion and consensus where at all possible. When such an agreement is impossible, the members of the ARB will vote on the issue, with the president breaking any tie vote.

Membership

Membership, while initially determined by Kitware, will develop organically from the ARB itself. ARB members are responsible for nominating new members, who are elected by consensus or majority vote (with the president breaking any tie). Existing members may step down from the ARB at any point. Members who are unable to attend meetings after reasonable effort to contact them, or are found to be exceedingly counterproductive to the purposes of the ARB, may be dropped from the ARB by consensus or vote.

Initial Members

• Jim Ahrens, Los Alamos National Laboratories
• Berk Geveci, Kitware Inc.
• Bill Lorensen
• Andrew Maclean
• Steve Pieper
• Will Schroeder, Kitware Inc.
• Brian Wylie, Sandia National Laboratories (This is a rotating position with other lead VTK technologists from Sandia)