Fwd: Re: [GRASS5] Opinion wanted - null data

[Justin Hickey]

Forwarded to developers list.

Justin Hickey wrote:
> 
> Hello all
> 
> As you know, I have been looking at the issue of removing the feature 
> of "0 is no data", and the situation is currently at a point where
> I'm not sure what is the best thing to do.
> 
> First, there have been 8 out of 9 users request that the "0 is no 
> data" feature disappear in 5.0. Originally I was planning to hide the
> null file from the users for 5.0 since we are close to a release and
> then remove it for 5.1. However, the more I look at the code and
> think about it, the more I feel that there will not be an elegant way
> to eliminate the null file for 5.1. The best I can think of is some
> way to detect whether a data file is pre 5.1 and then automatically
> convert it when grass reads it. Even though this sounds simple, we
> would have to keep the code that interprets the null file around for
> quite a while in order to convert these files.

The users are right.
 
> The options I see that we have are (in no particular order):
> 
> 1. Release 5.0 stable without any null changes and indicate to users
>    that an investigation of the code revealed that a major change was
>    required and thus the change is delayed until 5.1 rather than
>    risking the stability of 5.0
> 
> 2. Make the change and prolong the release by the amount of time for 
>    me to get back on-line and for coding and testing
> 
> 3. Another developer volunteers to make the changes and the release 
>    is delayed for only a minimum amount of time (coding and testing)
> 
> 4. Another developer volunteers to hide the null file and we do an
>    automatic change for 5.1
>

If 3 is difficult, 2 is probably the best.  One more month is not big
deal at this point.
 
-- 
Robert Lagacé, professeur
Pavillon Comtois
Université Laval
Ste-Foy, Québec, G1K 7P4
tel : (418)-656-2131#2276
Fax : (418)-656-3723
E-mail : lagace at grr.ulaval.ca