LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.5

Help for CODE4LIB Archives


CODE4LIB Archives

CODE4LIB Archives


CODE4LIB@LISTS.CLIR.ORG


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

CODE4LIB Home

CODE4LIB Home

CODE4LIB  September 2010

CODE4LIB September 2010

Subject:

Re: vufind user's group meeting

From:

Demian Katz <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Code for Libraries <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Wed, 8 Sep 2010 09:35:33 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (62 lines)

Thanks for sharing this.  A few comments on your take-aways:

    * governance - the VUFind community could use a bit more structure and the application of project management

We formed the VuFind administration group last year largely to address this issue...  but the group hasn't been very active.  I definitely think we need to make an effort at next week's conference to discuss how we can improve this situation.  We have a lot of people doing great work on VuFind, but most loyalties are (understandably and appropriately) to local institutions first and the VuFind project second.  Since I work at the university that originated the software and have more time than most to view it at the project level, I've had a disproportionate influence on where the project has gone over the past year or so.  I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out so far, but I would welcome the addition of a bit more structure if we can find a way to ensure that others are able to contribute regularly without having an undue burden placed upon them.

    * patches - member-submitted patches need to be incorporated to the code to a greater degree; a couple of us felt our contributions were not accepted

I think the "ignored patch" situation dates back to the time that the VuFind project was temporarily between developers at Villanova.  The resulting period of slow activity allowed work to pile up, and by the time the backlog was examined, the software had moved on too far for certain old patches to apply.  I feel that the situation has changed dramatically at this point -- I try to look at new patches as soon as I can, and I take the time to test patches and work with contributors to make them ready for inclusion in the trunk.  If there are still old unresolved patches that are important to people, please bring them to my attention.  I'll be happy to provide support in bringing them up to date for the latest version of the software.

I also really encourage complaining in public (i.e. on vufind-tech and vufind-general) if there are issues -- I think some of the early VuFind adopters dropped out of the public eye due to frustration with VuFind's temporary leadership vacuum.  However, things have changed a lot since then -- we have very active mailing lists, and I'm very interested in working with people to solve problems.  It helps if I know what the problems are, though!

    * authorities - a greater emphasis needs to be placed on integrating the profession's good work done in regards to named authorities

Agreed -- and something I've been working on (thanks largely to Ya'aqov Ziso, and with significant help from Ralph LeVan and members of the XC team).  I'll be presenting on our work so far at next week's conference, and additional collaborators are welcome!

    * local customizations - a possible solution to the "straying" issue may be the implementation of some sort of local code base, something Blacklight apparent has

I have been working on hooks throughout VuFind to make it easier to override or configure existing functionality without actually editing existing code: the "theme inheritance" mechanism, the record drivers, search objects, recommendations modules, even the way MARC import rules are set up.  Some of these things could probably stand to be documented better -- often the way of open source software.  I'm always open to adding new ways of customizing things in more places -- feel free to send me suggestions and requests.  I believe that Blacklight lets you create local overrides to any piece of the existing software thanks to the way the Rails environment is set up; VuFind's PHP environment isn't quite so structured, though evolution is always possible.  However, no matter how clever you get, this is a situation where there is no magic bullet -- if the base code changes too much, the override code will break.  All any project can do is try to minimize disruptive changes and to provide good hooks for customization.  Personally, I think just about the best thing anyone can do is learn to use change management software effectively -- no matter how well-designed the base software is, something like Git or Subversion will still make life easier when used appropriately.

    * "light" flavor - given the spectrum of programming skills available in libraries, some thought a VUFind "Light" may be in order

Perhaps the DEB package we've had since the 1.0 release qualifies as this -- installing it under Ubuntu is nearly a trivial process, so you can get the package up and running very quickly.  The only thing I can think of that would make this even easier would be some kind of GUI configuration tool to eliminate the need for editing ini files directly.  Not a high priority on my own to-do list right now...  but it might make a great project for some ambitious grad student somewhere.

    * repository - there is a need for a central place for the community to share local hacks, normalization routines, changes to the Solr indexer, etc.

We have a wiki (http://vufind.org/wiki/) and a JIRA instance (http://vufind.org/jira/) both open to the public...  not to mention the aforementioned mailing lists.  There should be an appropriate forum for sharing just about anything.  If you have suggestions on making this all more accessible, please share them!

Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to arrange this event -- it sounds like it was worth the effort.

- Demian

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Eric Lease Morgan
> Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 11:40 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] vufind user's group meeting
> 
> An inaugural VUFind "Midwest" Users Group Meeting was held at Western
> Michigan University today, and I described my experiences there in the
> (fledgling) CRRA Blog. From the last paragraph:
> 
>   In summary, the meeting was definitely a success. Discussion was
>   thorough and focused. I believe we used our time wisely, and no
>   one went away thinking it had been wasted. I do not think the
>   group was representative of the whole VUFind community. We were
>   more skilled than most. We agreed that VUFINd was not broken, but
>   we did outline a number of ways it could be improved. We all
>   agreed that the implementation of VUFind in our institutions
>   represents a giant step forward compared to where we were at
>   least a few years ago.  oss++
> 
>   http://tinyurl.com/283n4kq
> 
> Any errors in interpretation are mine and mine alone.
> 
> P.S. "Thanks folks, it was both fun and useful."
> 
> --
> Eric Lease Morgan
> University of Notre Dame

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTS.CLIR.ORG

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager