VTK/ARB/Meetings/November 2009

Agenda

• Compiler support
• Documentation / feedback (uservoice, InsightJournal) update and next steps
• Development process (continuing discussions) Git / SVN

Notes

• We noted that we should not have the next meeting at 10am for Andrew.

Compiler Support

• On the table for deprecation: Visual Studio 6, Borland compilers, older IRIX compilers.
• Should we make an official list of supported compilers.
• Visual Studio 7 (not 7.1) should be deprecated with Visual Studio 6.
• Consensus: Deprecate Visual Studio 6/7 (not 7.1), older Borland.

Documentation Feedback

• UserVoice is going well, we'll keep it going and see what responses we get.
• Insight Journal is extensive process of submitting articles, code, automatic testing.
  • Downside is the 2-3 year backlog.
  • We don't want something so onerous for VTK.
  • Don't need to use IJ for the same level of control as ITK does.
  • Good way to capture meta-issues, documents, testing, but not a gate for code submission.

Version Control

• There are things that a DVCS as the central server would allow that SVN would not, e.g. staging commits before pushing to head.
• Mercurial over Git is not perfect.
• Some firewalls have issues with connections other than HTTP.
• Would need a solution for keyword expansion.
• Would need specific instructions on how VTK developers should to move to Git (esp. on Windows).
• Need to move over pre-commit checks.
• Allows outside collaboration.
• Need to prepare the community for this with white paper, VTK Journal paper, etc. and allow discussion.
• Could enable an automatic gatekeeper, but perhaps don't impose it as a required thing.

Action Items

• Berk will deprecate compilers.
• Berk will write a Git whitepaper.
• Will will write email about ARB to community.

Next Time

• Revisit topic leads