[Gvsig_english] QUESTION gvSIG 1.9 (BN 1253) -- Future of gvSIG and Sextante

Fri Mar 26 17:43:29 CET 2010

Hello Ben,
there are a lot of people working on gvSIG Project and trying to make it sustainable for the future. That's not easy but they make it possible.
Your sentence is not true: "we have an official version for use at CIT and branches for use by the rest of the world". The official version of gvSIG is for use all over the world.
How do you want to make gvSIG OADE sustainable for the future us an open source project in the true spirit of it?

Regards
José Canalejo

 --
José Antonio Canalejo Alonso
CSGIS
Email:jose.canalejo at csgis.de
Web: http://www.csgis.de

________________________________
De: Benjamin Ducke <benjamin.ducke at oxfordarch.co.uk>
Para: Users and Developers mailing list <gvsig_internacional at listserv.gva.es>
Enviado: vie,26 marzo, 2010 16:32
Asunto: Re: [Gvsig_english] QUESTION gvSIG 1.9 (BN 1253) -- Future of gvSIG and Sextante

Hi all

> About Sextante + gvSIG in the future... My opinion is that we will be
> togheter, and there will be always a gvSIG+Sextante distribution. In
> fact, we are planning a new 1.9.1 release to fix some of the more
> anoying bugs, and we will try to put the latest Sextante release (if
> it
> is possible. There are some problems, for example, latest release will
> need java 1.6, and CIT (the public administration that pays the bill)
> still have a lot of computers with 1.5, so we need compatibility with
> 1.5. Maybe the solution will be to make 2 distributions, one with 1.5
> and other with 1.6, I don't know).
> 

Well, that explains something!
And here we are guessing for months while gvSIG 1.9 still ships
with Java 1.6 and can no longer include SEXTANTE...

Sorry if this sounds a bit frustrated, but this is exactly the
sort of opacity that will send external contributes running away
if it keeps up (please see my more extensive comments below).

> These are only my personal thoughts. The decision process is driving
> by
> a commitee, but there is always a possibility to make an "unofficial"
> distribution, like OADE [1] or the latest gvSIG portable (also with
> Sextante, and with Vista and 7 compatibility (thanks to AI2, the
> people
> who is developing the 3D plugin), and with the collaboration of Víctor
> to put Sextante, CSGIS, and some others (Jorge Gaspar, and my self,
> for
> example)).
> BTW, there is another "flavor" in gvSIG for Mac, thanks to Agustin
> Díez
> and the people of AI2 (again) [3].... ;-)

So now we have gvSIG 1.9, gvSIG 2.0 (no binaries yet), gvSIG OADE 2010,
and the new raster driver binaries done by AI2. But how is a first time
user supposed to understand what's going on here?

This is exactly the problem with forking and why I hope version 2.0
(or at least 2.1) will give us the opportunity to merge all of this mess
into a consolidated platform, again.

If gvSIG is to be an open source project in the true spirit of it, then
there need to be more frequent releases and there can be no exclusive,
closed decisions by some committee about the design of the official,
public and open source release. No complex code base has ever survived
as an open source project in that way (look at Xara Xtreme for Linux
for a horrible example; Netscape had to radically change its approach
before it could turn into a successful open source project with Mozilla).

In fact, if there is pressure on CIT to develop a version specifically
targeted at its own workplaces, than *that* version should be branched
off to include things such as Java 1.5 support. The way it is right now,
we have an official version for use at CIT and branches for use by
the rest of the world -- that's the wrong way around from the open
source point of view!

There is no "payment" as such for users contributing to this project. All
they can get out of it is recognition and the good feeling to have contributed
to something greater. But with the way development decisions are currently
made, I don't see that happening. Which makes me worried that we will lose
user contributions.

If CIT wants to get the *real* benefits from going open source, then it
needs to adopt more of the open source mindset.

Ben.

> 
> Best regards, and keep going with your how-to manuals, and remember
> that
> the code behind all these releases is very, very simillar. Thanks a
> lot
> for your hard work.
> 
> 
> Fran Peñarrubia
> gvSIG Team.
> 
> 
> [1] http://oadigital.net/software/gvsigoade/gvsigoade2010beta
> [2] http://www.gvsig.org/web/plugins/downloads/gvsig-1-9-portable
> [3] http://gvsigmac.blogspot.com/2010/03/big-news-gvsig19-working.html
> 
> 
> Simon Cropper escribió:
> > Hi,
> >
> > A recent post by Victor outlined the roadmap for Sextante.
> >
> > In it he indicated he intended to make Sextante into a library and
> > allow various developers to assimilate this library into their
> > projects, rather than maintain a plug-in system which requires
> > constant rejigging to ensure the bindings work.
> >
> > Surprisingly, despite Victor pointing everyone to OADE 2010, the
> > developers of gvSIG (core project) were not goaded into a response.
> >
> > So I am asking... What is the position of the gvSIG Developers
> > regarding Sextante (you have had enough time to talk about this)?
> Are
> > you planning to incorporate the upcoming library into gvSIG or will
> > you let this plug-in languish? I suppose the question is also
> relevant
> > for the next version of OADE.
> >
> > I think this is an important question as Sextante elevates gvSIG
> into
> > a product that can be used in a production environment; without it
> > gvSIG lacks important basic functionality.
> >
> > And at a personal level, I am in the final stages of preparing my
> > templates for my how-to manuals -- should I be writing my
> > documentation for OADE 2010 (which incorporates Sextante) or
> > gvSIG+Sextante or if the use of Sextante is uncertain, other
> upcoming
> > packages? I am also on record stating that gvSIG+Sextante is the
> first
> > FOSS GIS that I could use in a production environment. There is also
> > an upcoming paper in OSGeo Journal to that elk. So, will these
> > statements hold true in the future or will the gvSIG product fall
> back
> > to just the core modules?
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> > Cheers Simon
> >
> > Simon Cropper
> > Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
> > PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria 3020.
> > P: 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
> > mailto: scropper at botanicusaustralia.com.au
> > <mailto:scropper at botanicusaustralia.com.au>
> > web: www.botanicusaustralia.com.au
> <http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
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