RE: [Aimmath-developers] changes

[Ken M. <mo...@pt...>]

> I think that in general we have too many branches, too many web sites, too
> many mailing lists and so on.  I would like to suggest:

I agree.

> 1) We should have a development branch and a stable branch and that should
>    be it.  If you make a change that is reasonable enough that other
people
>    might want to try it, then it can be committed to the development
branch;
>    the change can always be reversed later if necessary.  If you are not
>    ready to to commit to the development branch, then the change can just
>    stay on your own machine, the CVS system need not see it at all.
>
>    I think that Gustav wanted a private branch as a convenient way to sync
>    his home and office machines.  It would be OK to have branches like
that,
>    if they are clearly marked as such.

OK, I will simply commit to the develop_2_1 branch (in accordance with the
Developer's Etiquette rules) from now on.  I don't know how to reverse such
a change, but as long as someone does I guess we will be ok. :)

> 2) I have removed my AIM distribution page, and replaced it with a link to
>    SourceForge.  I would suggest that other people do likewise; otherwise
>    we will end up with various sites offering incompatible versions and
>    causing horrible confusion.  It was useful to have alternatives when my
>    machine was the primary distribution source, as it was sometimes
>    unavailable; but that should hardly ever be a problem with SourceForge.
>
>    I think that the SourceForge site currently refers to Ken Monks's site
>    for some of the installation instructions etc.  This should be changed
>    so that the SourceForge site is self contained.
>
>    While I'm at it, I think that
>    (a) You should be able to get the stable version of AIM from
>        http://aimmath.sourceforge.net without having to go via
>        http://sourceforge.net/projects/aimmath
>    (b) The stable version should be provided as a zip file as well as a
>        tar file.
>    (c) It should be possible to access as much as possible of
>        http://aimmath.sourceforge.net without registering.  Where it is
>        possible to log in as a guest, the web site should make this as
>        obvious as possible.

I am certainly willing to do this, but there are a few loose ends we need to
figure out.

1. Ancillary software: In addition to mirroring the AIM source on my AIM
page I also am mirroring the other software needed: java, Tomcat, TtH, Blat
(for Windows), and Process (for my modified servlet).  This makes it
convenient for a new potential user to get everything they need in one place
rather than running all over the internet looking for the correct versions
of things.  This could be a big turnoff for a potential user who is used to
downloading a single zip file and installing it. Thus I would suggest that
at minimum the download page at aimmath should have really good instructions
regarding what components are needed to run AIM under the various operating
systems and also links to the appropriate OS-specific versions of the
component software needed.

2. AIM plug-ins or custom mods: In addition to the main AIM distribution, we
probably should have some sort of download page for AIM "plug-ins".  For
example, my modified servlet works fine under windows, but from what Greg
tells me it doesn't work so great under Linux.  But it has many nice
features and advantages for Windows users, so it might be considered to be
an AIM plug-in that only works for Windows until we get something more
permanent to include in the main distribution.  Also people may customize
their installations with features that are purely a matter a personal choice
(e.g. stuff in Site.mpl) that others might want to download.  A Plug-ins
page would help with that and give people the choice of modifying a feature
or not.

> 3) I think we only need two mailing lists/discussion forums: one
> for people
>    who are willing to read source code, and one for people who are not.  I
>    don't think that any finer subdivisions are useful in practice.

Yes.  Two lists are more than enough.  If we go with the JISC list and this
(aimmath-developers) list we should have a nice page at aimmath that
explains to people how to subscribe to JISC or alternatively make a single
list/forum at aimmath to replace JISC and ask the JISC subscribers to move
to that list (or forward the JISC posts through that list or something).

> Let me know what you think.

Sounds great.

KEN