[NeXus-committee] NUP 1 draft 0.1

[Joachim Wuttke]

Dear all,

as passionate scientists, you prefer to discuss contents,
not procedures. Yet the amount of different topics
touched in this thread makes it difficult to honor all
the valuable contributions with adequate discussion, let
alone to reach conclusions. It reminds me of my first NIAC
meeting in 2012, where I was alienated by the discussion
meandering between various highly technical subjects.

I started this thread with the intention to discuss
procedures, not contents. Unfortunately, I provoked
distraction by arguing why I find the present state
of NeXus insatisfactory. As Herbert emphasized, we must
be prepared for change anyway. Regardless of our widely
differing appreciation of how mature NeXus is (and whether
it may legitimately be called a "standard"), we should
devote a little time to discuss procedures, in order to
discuss contents and manage change in a more efficient way.

I propose to consider a well established, highly
successful example: the Python Enhancement Proposal
(PEP) process. It is described in the Meta-PEP
   http://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0001/
Basically:
- Discussion is strictly organized by numbered proposals;
   one proposal starts one discussion thread and leads to
   one resolution: implement or reject.
- Proposals are under version control, and can be refined
   over and again before a resolution is reached.
- Proposals have archival value; documentation can refer
   back to proposals to explain why things have been done
   in a specific way.
- A few proposals are categorized as "Meta"; they deal with
   the change process.

I propose to call our enhancements "updates", to avoid the
impression that change always means growth.

So, this is the informal draft 0.1 of NeXus Update Proposal NUP 1.

By the way, no more mails from me in the next three weeks will not
signify sudden loss of interest, but holidays.

Best regards, Joachim

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