Using Open Source Tools to Support Collaboration Within CALIBRE.

Transcription

1 Using On Suc Tls t Sut Cllabatin Within CALIBRE. Paul Adams, David Nutt, Sthn Rank, and Cnlia Bldyff Univsity f Lincln Lincln, UK {adams,dnutt,sank,cbldyff}@hmswll.lincln.ac.uk Abstact This a dscibs th dlymnt f Pln, an On-Suc cntnt managmnt systm, t sut th activitis f CALIBRE, an EU-fundd cdinatin actin intgating sach int Lib sftwa. Th citia by which Pln was slctd a dscibd, and th gdnss f fit t ths citia is analysd. As a cdinatin actin, CALIBRE invlvs 12 atns with diffnt quimnts and chaactistics. Th CALIBRE Wking Envinmnt (CWE) must thf sut a vaity f uss with diffnt lvls f tchnical xtis and xctatins. Imlmntatin f th sut infastuctu f CALIBRE is nging, and has vidd sm intsting insights int th bnfits f th us f lib sftwa. Althugh Pln has nt bn xlicitly dvld as a cllabatin infastuctu, with its walth f lugins, it has vn highly adatabl f this us. I. INTRODUCTION Th Cdinatin Actin f LIBRE sftwa (CALIBRE) is an EU 6 th famwk cdinatin actin jct, invlving 12 atns fm acss Eu and China. Th CALIBRE jct aims t facilitat cllabativ sach and intactins btwn th acadmic, industial and lib sftwa cmmunitis in d t stablish a bas f knwldg in lib sftwa ngining. On Suc Sftwa dvlmnt jcts a tyical f lag cllabativ sftwa jcts invlving individual dvls distibutd und th glb. Th is a lng histy f sach int nvinmnts t sut cllabativ sftwa ngining. M cntly, with th advnt f wid scal n suc sftwa dvlmnt, a numb f wb basd nvinmnts, such as SucFg 1, GFg 2, Fshmat 3, and Savannah 4, hav bn catd t hst and sut ths jcts. Within th Euan Famwk 5 IST sach gamm, th w tw jcts fundd t dvl sftwa ngining nvinmnts as n suc: GENESIS and Ohlia [1]. Bth f ths jcts lasd thi sftwa as On Suc. Within th GENESIS cnstium, th nvinmnt was valuatd by sm mmbs f th cnstium t sut th cllabativ witing f a jct t; and th cnstium mmbs cgnisd that th nvinmnt bing built culd atially sut cllabativ sach. Whn th CALIBRE sal was bing dvld, an tunity as t 1 htt:// 2 htt:// 3 htt:// 4 htt://savannah.gnu.g/ s th dvlmnt f scialisd cllabatin sut f th distibutd sach tams invlvd in th jct and thi cllabats in th n suc cmmunity, building n th xinc f th GENESIS jct. Natually, it was sd fm th stat t us n suc cmnnts and csss t dvl this sut. In sctin 2, this a bifly dscibs th cntxt f this sach including an vviw f th high lvl quimnts f cllabatin sut tls within CALIBRE. Sctin 3 discusss th dtaild quimnts f th Cllabativ Wk Envinmnt (CWE) as gathd fm th atns within th CALIBRE jct. Ths quimnts w gathd fm discussins with th CALIBRE atns at th kickff mting. Futh quimnts w ith infd fm ths bcam aant duing th dvlmnt and initial dlymnt f th CWE. Sctin 4 utlins th imlmntatin f this cllabatin sut, th cunt mniting visins in lac t valuat its usag, and dscibs th issus that as duing imlmntatin. Finally, sctin 5 vids an analysis f th lssns lant duing this dvlmnt and discusss th bnfits that th jcts and industy can gain fm simila cllabatin sut. Ptntial futu sach and dvlmnt activitis a als discussd. II. RESEARCH CONTEXT & HIGH LEVEL REQUIREMENTS CALIBRE cncns itslf with m than ncuaging intactin btwn diffnt lmnts f th sftwa cmmunity. Und th ausics f th jct, sach is als bing fmd in th aas f agil mthds, distibutd sftwa ngining, and jct managmnt fm a lib sftwa sctiv. CALIBRE lans t xamin hybid mdls f dvlmnt and bst actics t nabl innvativ ganisatin f sftwa dvlmnt within bth SMEs and lag institutins. It als aims t cnstuct a cmhnsiv sach adma t guid futu n suc sftwa sach. Cnsquntly, cllabatin, cmmunicatin and dissminatin within CALIBRE nds t b bth infmal,.g. via mail discussins, and fmal,.g. via ganisd wkshs with ublishd cdings. F its at, th Univsity f Lincln as wll as cntibuting t th vall sach within CALIBRE has bn chagd with th dvlmnt and vlutin f th

2 wb-basd infastuctu t sut cllabatin, cmmunicatin and dissminatin within CALIBRE. In th Dscitin f Wk [2], th distinct tys f cllabatin functinality w idntifid: Th CALIBRE Wk Envinmnt (CWE) Th CWE is th main wb-basd cllabatin nvinmnt f CALIBRE. It is quid that this b a "lading-dg tchnlgical infastuctu" [2] f suting cllabatin, with aticula fcus n cntlld dissminatin and xinc us. Th CALIBRE Sftwa Rsity (CSR) As a sulmnt t th CWE, th CSR must t vid th CALIBRE atns with a distibutd sftwa ngining sut nvinmnt. Th CALIBRE Rsach R sity (CRR) Als as a sulmnt t th CWE, th CRR is quid as a ublicfacing suc f all cmltd CALIBRE latd sach ducts, scially as. Thus, th vyday wk f th CALIBRE cnstium shuld b sutd by th CWE. Mv, th jct sal cntaind quimnts a sftwa dvlmnt nvinmnt and an achiving systm f sach utut. III. DETAILED REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INFRASTRUCTURE Many f th cllabatin and cmmunicatin infastuctu's high lvl quimnts w utlind within th CALIBRE jct sal and Dscitin f Wk. Additinal quimnts w thn gathd infmally at a mting f CALIBRE atns. Th cmmunicatin quimnts w addssd fist, in d t facilitat th dvlmnt f th cllabatin infastuctu. A. Mailing Lists Du t its flxibility -mail is an imtant cmmunicatin mdium within distibutd jcts; it vids fast cmmunicatin (lik tlhn), but withut quiing cncuncy. Cucially, this allws jct staff t cmmunicat withut t much distubanc t thi nmal wking actics. T cntast, aanging tlhn vid cnfncs is tim cnsuming and quis finding a mutually agabl tim. This can b blmatic, scially whn cllabats a distibutd acss tim zns. Cnsquntly, mailing lists w a ky quimnt f th cllabatin infastuctu. Futhm, anth imtant asn f using mailing lists is t sut asy achival f cmmunicatins. Mailing list sftwa, such as Syma 5 MailMan 6, k achivs f all mssags snt t th list. Ths achivs can hav thi lvl f 5 htt:// 6 htt:// dissminatin cntlld (usually sticting accss t mmbs f th list) and sav th list mmbs fm having t k thi wn cds. It was dsid that th achivs f th CALIBRE mailing lists w availabl within th CWE. Each wk ackag within CALIBRE sssss its wn list, allwing uss t jin nly th lists mst lvant t thm. B. Fums Within th CALIBRE jct, mst cmmunicatin is cnductd thugh mailing lists. Hwv, a futh quimnt xists t sut achivd cmmunicatin with intstd atis wh a nt CALIBRE atns. Such cmmunicatin is chaactisd by bing fquntly f lss ugncy than that cnductd n th mailing lists and quiing ccasinal mdatin t vnt abus. Althugh this is ssibl using mailing lists, fums als intgat smthly with th st f th wb-basd infastuctu and mit annymus ading and sting f mssags wh this is aiat f achiving th wid gals f CALIBRE. By using lightly gulatd ublic fums alngsid mailing lists, it is ssibl t ncuag tntial cntibuts wh may dislik th us f clsd mailing lists. C. Cntnt Managmnt and Accssibility Many f th CALIBRE atns hav significant numbs f nn-tchnical staff invlvd in th jct. In additin, CALIBRE wishs t ncuag cntibutins fm a vaity f cntibuts utsid jct. Thf, asy cntnt catin and managmnt within th CWE thugh a ang f -ad tmlats is ncssay. Hwv, th m tchnically inclind mmbs f th cnstium must als hav m wful cntnt catin functinality t satisfy thi nds. Cnsquntly a wll dcumntd Cntnt Managmnt Systm (CMS) with a asnably shallw laning cuv was quid. D. Calndaing It was quid that th CWE cntaind a fatu f dislaying th dats and dtails f imtant, CALIBRElatd, vnts such as cnfncs. Fums and achivs f mails nsu that cmmunicatin data is nt lst. Hwv, thy cannt nsu that data is mmbd! Thf, a visibl calnda within th CWE was quid, s that dats culd b makd with imtant vnts, nsuing that imtant dats f CALIBRE a m likly t b mmbd. E. Intnatinalisatin As an intnatinal cdinatin actin, it was f aticula imtanc that th cllabatin infastuctu (and in aticula, th CWE) culd sut multilingual intfacs and cntnt. English is nt a fist languag f many f th atns and tntial cllabats. Whil mst intnal CALIBRE cllabatin is cnductd in English, th CWE

3 as th main cllabatin tl within th jct, must sut multilingual cntnt in d t ncuag aticiatin and as an aid t dissminatin. Th intnatinalisatin tlkit was als quid t saat th dvlmnt f ach diffnt lingual vsin f a dcumnt fm that f th suc dcumnt. Cnsquntly, visin cntl was quid t sut intnatinalisatin as wll bing a usful fatu itslf. F. Cntl f Dissminatin Th cllabatin nvinmnt has t sut vaid lvls f dissminatin as it is nt always dsiabl ( aiat) t allw all uss f th CWE t s all f th cntnt. Pmissins managmnt is quid t cntl tw diffnt activitis: diting (including additin and dltin) f CWE cntnt and viwing f CWE cntnt. G. Nws Psting Adjunct t th calndaing quimnt dscibd ali, a datd nws sting systm is quid t st and dissminat ss lass, dtails f ts as ducd by CALIBRE atns and thwis ublicis th cnstium's activitis thugh th CWE. IV. IMPLEMENTATION As at f th CALIBRE jct, it is imtant that imlmntatin f th jct's cllabatin infastuctu is, in itslf, a shwcas f th tntial f lib sftwa within th sach cmmunity and industy. Th dvlmnt f th cllabatin infastuctu has fcusd n atability and has quid lib sftwa cmnnts dlyabl n mdst hadwa. A. Th CWE At its mst basic lvl, th CWE (htt://hmswll.lincln.ac.uk/calib) is a siml installatin f Z with Pln n a GNU/Linux bx, using Aach as th wb sv (s figu 1). It is this simlicity that has bn th mst imtant fact in dvling th CWE. Onc th bas installatin f ths cmnnts was cmltd, th CWE has bn dvld by incmntally adating and nhancing th Pln installatin whil uss hav cntinud thi wk using th nvinmnt. Th slctin f a suitabl cntnt managmnt systm has bn cucial t th succss f th CWE. Th systm had t b wful nugh t mt th dmands f th CALIBRE quimnts, but als flxibl nugh t allw f cntinuus dvlmnt f th nvinmnt. In chsing a cntnt manag f th CWE, six diffnt tls w valuatd. A cmaisn f th fatus f ths tls against th quimnts f th CALIBRE infastuctu can b fund in tabl 1. Th cntnt manag chsn f CALIBRE was Pln as it bst satisfid ths quimnts. Pln is a Lib cntnt managmnt systm, basd n Z, a Lib alicatin sv which is tagtd twads building CMSs. Pln is custmisabl and xtnsibl, using lugins t vid xta functinality such as calndaing. Sut f nws sting and calndaing a vidd as standad within th Pln cntnt managmnt systm. Mailing lists a vidd by th CMFBad tl, which als vids sut f fums (s Figu 2). Cntl f dissminatin is vidd by th mxmwkgu lugin f Pln (s Figu 3) and intnatinalisatin is vidd by th I18NLay and I18Lay tls. g F g Z B. Cunt Mniting f CWE Usag P l n Quick t Imlmnt N N h W ik i Fil ulad/wb ublishing N Nws systm N G u W a M a m b N Wb intfac N Tmlating N Accss Cntl N N N N Calndaing N Vsin Cntl N Fa N N N N N Intnatinalisatin KE: A lugin is availabl t vid this functinality Imlmntd by standad Wiki functinality Rquis Z installatin Efft quid t mv sulus fatus Cnsidabl st-installatin cnfiguatin quid Nn-CVS Fils hstd mtly and linkd in Tabl 1: CMS Cmaisn Matix

4 In d t assss th imact f th CWE n th wid cmmunity, sm mniting f us activity is bing cnductd. At snt qusts t th hsting wbsv a cllctd, achivd t sv th aw lgfils f lat xaminatin, and analysd with analg 7 and Rt Magic 8. This allws th cnstium t dtmin th fllwing: Which ganisatins (by dmain and IP blck) a accssing th CWE. This allws us t badly diffntiat btwn cnstium and nn-cnstium taffic and in aticula disgad taffic latd t systm maintnanc. Th mst ula aas and itms within th CWE. Th dmgahics f ating systms using th CWE. At snt w s an unusually lag numb f F ating systms cmad t th sits hstd at Lincln that a mnitd with th sam systm. Taffic bkn dwn int -hu, -day and mnthly gahs. It aas that mst intactin taks lac in th lat aftnn, Tusday-Fiday. Which sach kywds fquntly bing uss t th CWE, dtmind by f analysis. This hls th cnstium t sitin th CWE in sach ngin ankings by judicius us f kywds. Th limitatins f this aach a bvius: w can dtmin what th mass f uss a ding with th CWE but nt th d in which thy d it. N can w dtmin if uss fall int scific catgis (f xaml "just bwsing", "havy us" tc) hw uss in ths catgis might b xctd t bhav. T xtact this ty f infmatin, individual us sssins with th CWE must b tackd. Obviusly bf any such data is as this will nabl a m cmhnsiv valuatin f th CWE. C. Th CSR Th vyday wk f th CALIBRE cnstium is cuntly sutd by th xisting CWE. Hwv, quimnts f a sftwa dvlmnt nvinmnt and a sach utut achiving systm w als snt in th jct sal. Cuntly w lan t bas th CALIBRE sftwa sity n gfg with mdificatins t sut intgatin with th CWE. Each sftwa duct dvld will b assciatd with a aticula CALIBRE wk ackag and cnsquntly will sha mailing lists tc with that wk ackag. Oth fatus f th CWE (.g. fums) will als b usful t sut us fdback. D. Th CRR Th CRR systm is basd n GNU Pints. Pints is a Lib achiving systm dvld by th Univsity f Suthamtn and is dsignd t sut institutinal slfachiving. Th systm is alady in us at Lincln and cnsquntly adding a scnd achiv t cntain CALIBRE's sach utut is siml. At snt n quimnt t mdify th ustam Pints sftwa has bn licitd. E. Th Effct f On Suc n th dvlmnt Us f Lib cmnnts had sval ffcts n th dvlmnt css. An ganisatin knwn as Th Cllctiv has assumd snsibility f sval Z and Pln ducts including th fums tl and sm bhindth-scns infastuctu cmnnts. Thugh this is a Figu 1: CWE Hm Pag cllctd th ivacy imlicatins must b cnsidd and uss f th CWE infmd. Sssin data such as this will nabl th CWE dvls t idntify scific us gus and mdify th systm t fit thi scialist quimnts; its cllctin fms at f u futu wk 7 htt:// 8 htt:// Figu 2: CWE Fum Tls snsibl ida, Th Cllctiv sms unabl t cdinat dvlmnt f th ducts thy maintain, vn whn intdndncis xist btwn th ducts. Cnsquntly, thugh installing any individual Cllctiv duct has bn asy, th m ducts n installs th gat th liklihd f an unslvabl cnflict aising. This ty f difficulty has slwd th dvlmnt f th CWE cnsidably. Similaly, th wildly incnsistnt vsining statgis mlyd by th vaius On Suc jcts usd in th CWE hav als ld t sm cnfusin. This igula mlymnt f vsining mthds in n suc jcts ints has t a nd f a m standadisd aach t vsining within th lib sftwa dvlmnt cmmunity. Paadxically it is had t s hw this culd b achivd within such a divs and n cmmunity withut sm vaching sut f cdinatin f wk n th vaius ducts.

5 At th vy last, sm agmnt by all dvls t us cmmn cnvntins f vsining wuld b a stat and imvd sut f distibutd cnfiguatin managmnt might ff a lng tm slutin. Limitatins in th availabl ducts als hav bcm aant as dvlmnt f th CWE has cntinud. Thf tw cntibutins t th cmmunity hav bn mad: fistly sm mdificatins t th Pln stylsht and scndly a lugin t css Mailman achivs (in mbx fmat) and t dislay thm within th CWE 9. Th lannd intgatin with gfg t achiv th CSR mains as futu wk. Cuntly, it is nt anticiatd that this will b blmatic. V. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK Whil th us f n suc cmnnts has nabld th dvlmnt wk dscibd h t cd aidly, it has nt bn withut blms, such as ths assciatd with vsining dscibd abv. In th CALIBRE cas, th us f On Suc cmnnts t build an infastuctu f this ty has bn much cha and m flxibl than uchasing and dlying simila COTS ducts (.g. Micsft Shaint). Hwv, dvling such an infastuctu quis cnsidably m tim and dtminatin than dlying a COTS slutin. Thf w cannt cmmnd that cash-ich tim- ganisatins ncssaily us th Lib sftwa slutin t slv thi cllabatin blms at this tim. On f th gals in th dvlmnt wk dscibd h has bn atability. Althugh initial dvlmnt has bn fcusd n th scific nds f CALIBRE, ths a nt s diffnt fm th intnatinal cnstia ngagd in cllabativ sach jcts, aticulaly in sftwa ngining sach which ftn invlvs cllabativ sftwa dvlmnt as at f its sach activitis. At th tim f witing, a nw cllabatin nvinmnt f th Bitish Cmut Scity's On Suc Scialist Gu is bing dvld at Lincln using cncts and tchnlgis vn in th dvlmnt and dlymnt f th CWE. Having built n CWE, building anth has nt quid substantiv fft n th at f th dvls h at Lincln. It mains t sn hw asily, th dvls will b abl t at u dvlmnts and us th wk dscibd h. On at f u lannd futu wk is an abstactin f u cunt wk int a jct agnstic cllabatin infastuctu, a kit that culd b usd by th sach cnstia and fssinal gus in cating thi wn cllabatin sut. This wuld allw a simlifid instantiatin css, nabling jcts t cat thi wn wking nvinmnts withut having t lan and cnfigu Pln f thmslvs. VI. REFERENCES [1] C. Bldyff, M. Smith, D. Wiss, D. Nutt, P. Wilcx, S. Rank, R. Dwa, and P. Ritvat. Envinmnts t sut cllabativ sftwa ngining. In Pcdings f th 2nd Wksh f C-ativ Suts f Distibutd Sftwa Engining Pcsss, ags IEEE, [2] C-dinatin actin f Lib sftwa ngining f n dvlmnt latfms f sftwa and svics -- dscitin f wk, May Hwv, this functinality is nt usd within th cunt vsin f th CWE. Figu Instad, 3: mail mxmwkgu aliass hav bn Dissminatin assciatd with Pmissins th CMFBad tl, allwing th cmbinatin f achiv and fum-ty functinality.