[postgis-users] Roadmap for next major release of PostGIS

[Mark Cave-Ayland]

Gregory Williamson wrote:
> +1
> 
> Given that there is going to have to be pain eventually to make this 
> code base more coherent / maintainable, I think what you outline is 
> sensible. 7.4 is going to be sunsetted "soonish" anyway and supporting 
> it seems to be less than sensible; 8.0 we here at my company skipped 
> because it just seemed to have issues and the later releases have given 
> more bang for the non-buck ;-) . The decision on Windoze support seems 
> quite in line w/ PostgreSQL in general.
> 
> I'd rather see a freeze on new features and some work done to make the 
> long-term prospects better than see developers increasingly spin their 
> wheels trying to maintain old code bases. Take advantage of newer 
> features in postgres where possible since they've done work for a 
> reason. But what a refreshing idea to be able to contemplate going back 
> and fixing old issues and cleaning up things instead of pasting new 
> functionality onto increasingly rickety infrastructure!
> 
> A caveat -- all in favor of a tighter coupling of postGIS and GEOS but 
> do make this as painless as possible for neophytes and others who are 
> not masters of their own environments, either from lack of experience or 
> from being dependent on arbitrary sysads. (i wish for several moons)

Well, in terms of building PostGIS, nothing should change to the casual 
user. The standard incantation of "configure" followed by "make install" 
still stands, although of course the relevant libraries and header files 
must be installed if building from source.

> I can't offer much personally -- a little geld [hundreds of US dollars 
> -- act now before this offer becomes meaningless!] if you need it, some 
> perl experience [not a wizard mind you!] and maybe some help testing. 
> "Corporate" I do not speak for but my guess is that they're more willing 
> to pony up money for specific features that are needed rather than 
> general under-the-hood work. But I think this sounds like a good idea 
> and well worth doing sooner rather than later. So let me know if I can help.

Since Perl is not my first language, I'd personally be grateful for any 
help with regard to converting the regression test script to Perl. See 
http://svn.refractions.net/postgis/trunk/regress/run_test for the shell 
version. Much of the new build system has already been committed to SVN 
trunk, so feel free to download, test and feedback.

In terms of new features, several people have recently been asking about 
multi-dimensional indices. If enough interested parties could donate 
some money for developer time, I'm sure this would help fund the 
developers required to do the work.


ATB,

Mark.

-- 
Mark Cave-Ayland
Sirius Corporation - The Open Source Experts
http://www.siriusit.co.uk
T: +44 870 608 0063