[OPEN-ILS-DOCUMENTATION] [OPEN-ILS-DEV] 2.1 Status and Blocking Bugs Request

[Soulliere, Robert]

Michael brings up some excellent points.

In regards to his first point regarding upgrade instructions, I wonder if the basic upgrade instructions (from last version of previous major release?) could be made part of the README or install text files just like the clean install directions. The wiki and DocBook versions could then pull the instructions from this authoritative source which is coupled with the code at release time. Could this address your first concern Michael? Would this is possible for the release team?

In regards to the second point regarding new features: This came up for a bit of discussion at the DIG meeting at the last Evergreen conference and I think was also discussed on a different list. One point was made that the support vendors and customers negotiate supporting documentation being developed for the customer and sharing with the community. I am not sure about this exact process in regards to vendor customer discussions, but I would suggest that documentation for new features be discussed with your vendor if you are sponsoring the development. If you require this the new development, I think it is important to clearly communicate your needs to the support vendor and ask lots of questions about what you are getting as part of your "complete and full" upgrade.
For comparison, our institution does not use EDI, so incomplete documentation would not be a show stopper for us to upgrade to 2.1.

I would second Jason's comments on documentation being a community effort, Moreover, If we waited for documentation to be "complete" before a release, we would never have a release. Documentation is never complete or perfect, it is only in various states of revision and improvement which is kind of the case for development of software as well...

Regards,
Robert


Robert Soulliere, BA (Hons), MLIS
Systems Librarian
Mohawk College Library
robert.soulliere at mohawkcollege.ca
Telephone: 905 575 1212 x3936
Fax: 905 575 2011
________________________________________
From: open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Peters, Michael [MRPeters at library.IN.gov]
Sent: September 1, 2011 8:58 AM
To: Evergreen Development Discussion List
Subject: Re: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] 2.1 Status and Blocking Bugs Request

Good morning all!

After discussing this today with some colleagues, we'd like to also pose the question, is documentation for implementing 2.1 in a production environment complete?  Likely, it is since usually the clean install process is well documented.  However, sometimes the upgrade documentation/scripts have been incomplete at release time in the past, leaving those who aren't willing to do a totally fresh install hanging for a period of time.  In my opinion, I think documentation for both a clean install and an upgrade install must be tested and publicly available before a release can be considered.

I'm also concerned that new features in 2.1 haven't had any documentation or implementation instructions released.  A case like this was a problem for Evergreen Indiana when we upgraded to 2.0.4 in the spring.  We were given the impression that the upgrade was complete, in full, by our support vendor.  Several months later, when we began to test Acquisitions we discovered that EDI had never been configured or documented.  Quite simply, we had no idea that this was even something that needed to be configured because there was a lack of documentation.  It was only after a hint from a colleague who experienced the same confusion that we discovered there were missing pieces that hadn't been configured.

I'm concerned about releasing new major versions of the software, such as 2.1, before this documentation is complete.  For those who wish to live on the "bleeding edge", they can always utilize master or other branches from Git should they be unable to wait for an official public release.

Sincerely,
Michael Peters
Indiana State Library MIS | Inspire.IN.gov Helpdesk | Evergreen Indiana Helpdesk
office - 317.234.2128
email - mrpeters at library.in.gov


-----Original Message-----
From: open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-dev-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Berezansky
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:06 PM
To: Evergreen Development Discussion
Subject: [OPEN-ILS-DEV] 2.1 Status and Blocking Bugs Request

During the developer meeting today 2.1's status was discussed. The
following is what came of it:

Mike Rylander is working on a few last-minute fixes, as well as
creating launchpad bugs for tracking them.

EDI was discussed in that it has known issues with a lot of real-world
data. See bugs:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/817653
https://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/+bug/812593

We did not come to a consensus on whether or not these issues should
be blocking the release of 2.1, and opted to push that question to the
dev list.

Should these issues be considered blocking for 2.1's release?

In addition, are there any other outstanding issues that anyone feels
should be blocking 2.1?

Outside of that, the upgrade script will need a final review, after
which it appears we would like to officially release 2.1.0, rather
than another release candidate.

Thomas Berezansky
Merrimack Valley Library Consortium





This E-mail contains privileged and confidential information intended
only for the individual or entity named in the message.  If the reader
of this message is not the intended recipient, or the agent responsible
to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that
any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication
is prohibited.  If this communication was received in error, please
notify the sender by reply E-mail immediately, and delete and destroy
the original message.