Le Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 10:46:30AM +0200, Nigi Fabio a écrit : > > i' m Fabio, master student @ university of Pisa in computer engineer > i'd like to have more info about the project on wiki pages for the > cloud image for bioinformatics with Debian
Dear Nigi, I was deliberately vague when writing the description of the project for bioinformatics on the Cloud using Debian, because I want this project to be bottom-up, where the student particpates in the shaping of the proposal. I have listed some frequent problems or needs related to the use of Debian for bioinformatics, which I will detail in a slightly longer form here. - When a project starts with a given version of a software, the researchers are usually reluctant to upgrade, for good resons as scientific software does not have a good record of maintaining stable APIs or outputs. This means that projects end up trapped on a specific computer. Cloud computing could propose a solution to this, maybe in line with the CUT concept, by taking advantage of resources such as snapshot.debian.org to deliver reproducible systems independantly on the state of the Debian archive. One could also consider how to install multiple versions of a Debian package at the same time. - Scientific software also tends to assume that it is run on computers with unlimited memory and disk space, which is likely to cause problems on cloud systems offering standard units that are often more limited. This calls for parallelisation of the work, specific parametring of the cloud instances (which typically have small or virtual temporary directories), scaling and cost control, since cloud systems often bill in function of multiple parameters such as up time, data transfer and disk activity. - Given that the Summer of Code is about programming, what we need to build a convincing project that a chance to get a slot is to find a clear target in the issues above (or some that I would have forgotten), and propose a solution that involves development (without reinventing the wheel) and improves Debian in general, while solving important issues about doing bioinformatics in the Cloud. I hope this helps, Have a nice day -- Charles Plessy Debian Med packaging team, http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
