<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">IMO:</font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I'd like to wrap this thread up soon
and put together a summary of the discussion into a proposal for a way
forward for GeoNetwork ANZLIC Profile.</font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I'd like to start work on this summary
next week, starting 10th June.</font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Where should this proposal go, once
it has been subject to our peer review?</font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I suspect that it may be appropriate
to go to the ANZLIC Council for approval, however this needs debate.</font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I have been contacted by several people
off line and understand that they have not been in a position to respond
due to work commitments. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">We have one more week for comments,
please take the time to do so if you are able.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I'd like to read more from the ANZLIC
community. </font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">I also know that Ben and Jeroen would
like to add additional thoughts.</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Simon, I'd also appreciate reading your
additional thoughts on what would work.</font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">Bruce Bannerman<br>
</font>
<br>
<br><font size=2 face="sans-serif">__________________</font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>Finding an Open Source process that will work for
GeoNetwork - ANZLIC Profile will<br>
take a bit of trial and error to get right.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>We may not be able to treat it as a traditional Open
Source Project as there is a<br>
need to support ANZLIC involvement in the process.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>Many of the ideas here have come from Karl Fogel's
book "Producing Open Source Software,<br>
How to Run a Successful Free Software Project" ( http://producingoss.com/
). This is an<br>
enlightening read if you have the time.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>Below is a random collection of thoughts that needs
further work. <br>
We need your input and experience to flesh out these ideas.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>_Working with the GeoNetwork Community_<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>We are not developing a project from scratch.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>We are contributing to and customising an existing
OS Project, GeoNetwork.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>Therefore, whatever we want to get into GeoNetwork
will have to be worked through<br>
the GeoNetwork community and GeoNetwork Project Steering Committee.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>The GeoNetwork Community are not going to want to
include all of our changes at face value.<br>
To get them included will require a number of our developers to work *within*
the community,<br>
contribute to the project and over time *earn* credibility that they know
what they are<br>
talking about.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>Simon and Byron have obviously been very successful
at doing this and we could learn from<br>
their examples.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>We will also need to be sensitive to the GeoNetwork
community and by our actions make it<br>
clear to them that we are not trying to hijack their project, but act as
good community<br>
members.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt></tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>_How can we get the work done?_<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>This will provide some challenges for government organisations,
where development work is<br>
typically project based with defined deliverables. Some initial ideas on
how we can engage<br>
with the community and get work done:<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>- Architects and Senior developers could start subscribing
to the GeoNetwork mailing lists<br>
( http://geonetwork-opensource.org/ ) to observe how the community operates.
When they<br>
feel comfortable with the process they could start contributing to discussions.</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>- For some of our permanent developers, we could
start setting performance goals relating<br>
to GeoNetwork contributions and providing work time for this to occur.
These goals<br>
could possibly relate to a specific number of commits being accepted by
the community.<br>
The work may or may not be explicitly AP related.</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>- For those of us who do not have permanent developers,
we could explore Cameron's idea<br>
of engaging specialist consultancies to do some of this work for us. We
could treat<br>
this as *product support* with an appropriate annual fee. Over time these
consultancies<br>
would also need to build up the required rapport within the GeoNetwork
community and be<br>
available as a resource to use to get our future customisation done.</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>- I'm interested in other suggestions as well here.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>_How do we prioritise AP work_<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>Ideally, we'd be able to come up with a list desired
improvements, assign a priority<br>
and work through them one by one.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>In practice, some organisations will have an urgent
itch to scratch. If they have the<br>
resources to fund (and community accepted developers to undertake) that
work, they<br>
should be free to do so.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>How do we establish the list of priorities, determine
if it is required and assign a<br>
priority?<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>We have a set of priorities in the September workshop
minutes last year<br>
( http://www.osdm.gov.au/Metadata/GeoNetwork/Committees/default.aspx )
. Is this list<br>
being monitored and under active review?<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>What processes do we need to go through to coordinate,
review, monitor and accept<br>
additions to this list?<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>Who should be on this review panel and who has the
responsibility of liaising the<br>
requirements with the appropriate people in the GeoNetwork community.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>What mailing lists should be used to coordinate this
work?<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt></tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>_How do we manage AP code development_<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>It appears that Jeroen Ticheler has been successful
in his proposal to allow sandpit<br>
development within the GeoNetwork subversion revision control environment
(is<br>
this correct Jeroen?).<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>This is the obvious place to do our development work,
feeding regular changes back<br>
into the main truck version when appropriate and accepted.<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>Do we need an AP developers list, or would the geonetwork-devel
list be more appropriate?<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>What do we do for bug tracking?<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>What do we do for packaging, automated testing and
functional testing?<br>
</tt></font>
<br><font size=2><tt>How do we determine what goes into each release of
GeoNetwork ANZLIC Profile and<br>
enforce the practice of release early and release often?<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>I leave this here. Hopefully there is enough meat
to pick to pieces and then build on.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>I look forward to hearing some more constructive comments.<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>Ben, do you have any comments from an ANZLIC perspective
that may need to constrain<br>
some of the ideas to come out of this?<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>Bruce Bannerman<br>
</tt></font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br><font size=2><tt>_______________________________________________<br>
Aust-NZ mailing list<br>
Aust-NZ@lists.osgeo.org<br>
http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/aust-nz</tt></font>
<br>
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