Ideally, we'll link breakout session notes from
http://code4lib.org/conference/2009/breakouts
Anybody have time to do that?
Maybe a separate page at code4lib.org for each breakout?
-Jodi
PS-Currently these sessions are listed:
Tuesday breakout sessions
* Plone/Zope
* OCLC Grid Services - Don Hamparian
* Jangle
Wednesday breakout sessions
* Summon
Please add the one you attended.
Nicole Engard wrote:
> Karen,
>
> Are you going to post this on the web somewhere? I'd love to link to
> it in a blog post - if not I'll just copy and paste :)
>
> ---
>
> Nicole C. Engard
> Open Source Evangelist, LibLime
> (888) Koha ILS (564-2457) ext. 714
> [log in to unmask]
> AIM/Y!/Skype: nengard
>
> http://liblime.com
> http://blogs.liblime.com/open-sesame/
>
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 12:44 PM, Karen Schneider <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Code4Lib 2009 -- February 25, 2009
>>
>> Draft notes: Breakout Session: Evaluating Open Source
>>
>> Input welcome from attendees and anyone else.
>>
>> ----------------
>>
>> This breakout session started from an informal discussion at a C4L
>> wine and cheese. The group brainstormed questions about questions to
>> ask for evaluating open source.
>>
>> These questions are not absolutes and some of them (perhaps many of
>> them) will elude clearly objective answers. Also, again and again, the
>> group pointed out that the presence of a question did not translate to
>> a requirement or a judgment — these are assessment questions, many of
>> which will not be relevant to every project and will only translate to
>> meaningful criteria on a selective basis. Additionally, while many of
>> these same questions could be applied to any software, the consensus
>> appeared to be that it was helpful to ask these questions specifically
>> in the context of OSS.
>>
>> 1. “Openness” of open source
>>
>> a. Describe the license(s) used
>>
>> b. Is the code freely and publicly available? Is it easy to find?
>>
>>
>>
>> 2. Growth and growth management
>>
>> a. How widely is the code used?
>>
>> i. How many
>> organizations are known to use it operationally
>>
>> ii. How many
>> times has it been downloaded
>>
>> iii. Is usage
>> information tracked and reported?
>>
>> b. How long has it been in use?
>>
>> c. How many developers are actively involved in the project?
>>
>> d. What is the commit activity?
>>
>> i. How are
>> commits reported?
>>
>> ii. Can commits
>> be tracked in real-time? How?
>>
>> e. Describe the enhancement process.
>>
>> i. Are
>> enhancement decisions publicly available? Who decides?
>>
>> f. Describe bug-tracking: what tools, how bugs are evaluated and
>> prioritized
>>
>> i. Is the
>> bug-tracking system publicly available?
>>
>> g. Describe QA/testing processes.
>>
>> h. How is the software updated?
>>
>> i. Is there a migration path to the next version?
>>
>> j. Describe the development planning model. Is there upgrade
>> planning? A commitment to a migration path?
>>
>> k. What tools are provided for migrations and upgrades?
>>
>> l. Has the project forked, and if so, describe
>>
>>
>>
>> 3. Community engagement…
>>
>> a. Are there user groups? How large are they? How often do they
>> meet (f2f, virtually, etc.)?
>>
>> b. Discussion groups, chat channels, etc.—presence, traffic, availability
>>
>> c. Activity of support forum, length of support
>>
>> d. Other characteristics of the software community: size, diversity
>>
>>
>>
>> 4. Governance
>>
>> a. Describe the governance model (nonprofit, foundation, etc.)
>>
>> b. Is the governance transparent? Describe.
>>
>>
>>
>> 5. Code and standards
>>
>> a. Describe the architecture—languages, structure, etc.
>>
>> b. Is the project using version control?
>>
>> c. How available is the version control system?
>>
>> d. Is there a commercial support option?
>>
>> e. Interoperability—describe.
>>
>> f. Error logging and reporting—describe
>>
>> g. Scalability?
>>
>> h. Security? Encryption?
>>
>> i. Does it
>> provide security auditing tools?
>>
>> i. How are permissions set and what are the default permissions?
>>
>> j. What platforms does it run on, and how easy is it to
>> implement on each platform?
>>
>> k. For dependencies, does it rely on current versions of those programs?
>>
>> l. Does the code hew to de facto or de jure standards? Which ones?
>>
>> m. Are key developers active in related standards work?
>>
>> n. Does the code include proprietary-source codex, flash players,
>> etc.—and how is that handled?
>>
>>
>>
>> 6. Documentation
>>
>> a. Is it complete?
>>
>> b. Current?
>>
>> c. Open?
>>
>> d. Written to standards (e.g. Docbook or DITA)?
>>
>>
>>
>> 7. Innovation and quality
>>
>> a. Is it cool at what it does? Is it useful? What’s its karma?
>> Does it work well? Does it solve a problem? that needs to be solved?
>>
>> b. Is it easy to use?
>>
>> c. Is it focused on end users (including librarians, if they are
>> the software’s end users)?
>>
>> d. Ease of installation? Consistent results?
>>
>> e. Accessibility?
>>
>> f. Internationalization?
>>
>> g. Business intelligence functions?
>>
>> h. Incompatibilities?
>>
>> i. Failures and deficiencies?
>>
>> j. Awards, reviews, citations?
>>
>> k. Certifications?
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>> | Karen G. Schneider
>> | Community Librarian
>> | Equinox Software Inc. "The Evergreen Experts"
>> | Toll-free: 1.877.Open.ILS (1.877.673.6457) x712
>> | [log in to unmask]
>> | Web: http://www.esilibrary.com
>> | Be a part of the Evergreen International Conference, May 20-22, 2009!
>> | http://www.solinet.net/evergreen
>>
>>
