Suggested agenda

[Moreton-Smith, CM (Christopher)]

I'm happy to stand in for Freddie regards CVS and installation issues as
these are fairly familiar territory.

One temptation is to throw into the discussion the issue of whether to
provide better (more end user focussed) per platform binary installation
facilities AKA Red Hat Package manager or InstallShield type setups.

Is there anyone who has built an RPM package installation who could act as
expert on this?

best regards

Chris

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ray Osborn [mailto:ROsborn at anl.gov]
> Sent: Tuesday 29 August 2000 04:00
> To: NAPI
> Subject: Suggested agenda
> 
> 
> Here are some questions that I think we should be addressing 
> during this
> meeting.  In effect, they define a draft agenda for the 
> workshop although I
> haven't put down suggested discussion times yet.  Please let 
> me know if you
> think I have left out any important topics, or if you 
> disagree with some
> I've included.  
> 
> While I think we should all have some informed opinions about 
> each of these
> issues, I would like someone to lead some of these sessions 
> with a brief
> presentation (~20 min) of the issues and suggested answers to 
> some of the
> questions.  I assume that Chris will want to lead the XML 
> session.  Since
> Mark has already done a lot of work in Java, and Przemek has expressed
> interest in doing some advance work on HDF5, I would like to 
> suggest that
> they deal with the Java and HDF5 sessions respectively.  
> Unfortunately,
> Freddie doesn't think he can be with us, although he is probably best
> qualified to discuss the CVS and installation issues.  If 
> anyone would like
> to volunteer to address these or any other issues, please let me know.
> 
> Topics for NeXus'2000
> =====================
> 
> 1) Review of current API
>     What¹s working and not working?
>     What is the feedback from the user community?
>     Is there a need for extra features (e.g.  NXdelete)?
>     Are existing compression schemes adequate?
>     Do we need to improve multi-file support (appending 
> files, linking etc)?
>     What design changes might be necessary (e.g. axis definitions)?
>     Is there a need for an additional utility API (cf NXdict, 
> F90 routines)?
>     How do we improve the installation procedures (e.g. 
> configure scripts)?
> 2) Policy on conversion to HDF5
>     Is HDF5 sufficiently mature?
>     Does it run on enough platforms (e.g. VMS)?
>     Does it have enough functionality and performance?
>     Should we change NeXus to take advantage of its new features?
>     What are the design issues in moving to HDF5 (e.g. NXlink)?
>     How do we handle backward-compatibility?
>     How do we address lack of third-party support (e.g. IDL, Matlab)?
> 3) Java support
>     Is it advisable to have a NeXus version of java?
>     What issues does it raise concerning the NeXus design (i.e. OOP)?
>     Who should write it and maintain it?
>     Should we aim to make the utilities (e.g. NXbrowse) Java 
> applications?
> 4) XML
>     Is it useful to have NeXus defined in XML?
>     What are the advantages and disadvantages?
>     How do we exploit the advantages?
>     Do we need XML to NeXus converters?
>     Should we define instruments in XML?
> 5) NeXus utilities
>     What utilities currently exist (with demos)?
>     Should we be providing central support for NeXus utilities?
>     What utilities are these (browsers, plotters, analysis)?
>     What is the best language to produce them in?
> 6) Future maintenance
>     Is the current CVS process working OK?
>     Do we need to expand the number of people contributing?
>     If so, do we need levels of access (e.g. 
> submissions/authorization)?
>     Do we need hard documentation or is the web sufficient?
> 7) Organization of major NeXus workshop
> 
> Best regards,
> Ray
> -- 
> Dr Ray Osborn                Tel: +1 (630) 252-9011
> Materials Science Division   Fax: +1 (630) 252-7777
> Argonne National Laboratory  E-mail: ROsborn at anl.gov
> Argonne, IL 60439-4845
> 
> 
>