Dear Chuck, You are correct, of course. The OpenVistA programming standards have to include the portability standard.
Yours truly, Rick On Wed, 2005-04-27 at 18:32, chuck5566 wrote: > Maybe I just missed it, but I would hope that there would also > be consideration for the VA's, and possibly even the MDC's, > portability standards. Otherwise very encouraging. > > > On Apr 27, 2005, at 6:06 PM, Frederick D. S. Marshall wrote: > > > Dear Hardhats, > > > > Thursday, May 12th to Sunday, May 15th, WorldVistA is holding a small > > technical meeting to verify, package, and release OpenVistA version 4. > > Since this will be a technical meeting, it will not make a good venue > > for those seeking an introduction to VistA, or looking for installs on > > their laptops or discussion sessions, or even to socialize or make > > plans. It will be an old-style, heads-down, hard-working meeting > > focused on achieving results as efficiently as possible. > > > > This release is a turning point in how OpenVistA is developed, and will > > finally set in motion changes we have been planning since 2001: > > > > 1) OpenVistA will be kept in sync with VA's FOIA release of VistA. It > > will be a superset of FOIA VistA. All VA FOIA functionality will be > > included. In addition, verified development done outside the VA and > > not > > yet adopted by the VA will also be included; this add-on work will be > > done in the form of KIDS patches applied to the FOIA, so that the exact > > relation of OpenVistA to FOIA VistA will remain close and explicit. > > The > > OpenVistA 4 release will include the most recent FOIA as well as the > > FOIA with the OpenVistA patches applied, so that OpenVistA adopters can > > run comparisons easily. > > > > 2) OpenVistA will be a decentralized product consisting of three > > classes > > of changes. Class I changes are those issued by the VA, and will > > constitute the core of OpenVistA. Class II changes are those issued by > > WorldVistA, and will constitute the verified superset around which we > > build our software lifecycle. Class III changes are those made outside > > these two verification shops. Class III changes that meet the > > published > > standards or can easily be made to do so may be submitted to the > > responsible development team for possible inclusion, testing, > > verification, and release as a Class II change. > > > > 3) OpenVistA development will be coordinated with the VA, so they > > always > > know where our focus of work is, and to ensure that our work remains > > compatible with theirs. We will emphasize joint ventures whenever > > possible. > > > > 4) OpenVistA will be developed modularly by teams, as VA VistA used to > > be. The code base for each package will be the responsibility of its > > team. Whether developed by its team or by outside volunteers, changes > > to a package will only be released as part of OpenVistA with its team's > > review and approval, after field testing, and with the verifiers > > confirming that the change meets our standards. > > > > 5) OpenVistA will be written according to the VA's own Standards and > > Conventions document, including MOP-UP and related ancillary > > development > > standards. We intend to adopt the next version of the SAC, the one > > developed several years ago but not yet adopted by the VA. The > > development standard we adopt will be one of the products of the > > Seattle > > meeting. > > > > 6) OpenVistA will be verified to published standards that meet or > > exceed > > the VA's own verification standards. Thus, all OpenVistA patches will > > be VA-ready, to make it easy for the VA to adopt OpenVistA work > > whenever > > they choose to do so. The OpenVistA verification standard will be one > > of the products of the Seattle meeting. > > > > 7) OpenVistA will be documented to published standards that exceed the > > VA's own documentation standards. There are a number of ways in which > > VA code is inadequately documented from a troubleshooting and support > > perspective, so OpenVistA's documentation standard will be tightened to > > make OpenVistA easier to support than FOIA VistA. The OpenVistA > > documentation standard will also be a product of the Seattle meeting. > > > > 8) After the meeting, changes to OpenVistA will be routed through the > > patch module on OpenForum. Patches, whether Class I (VA) or II > > (WorldVistA) will be sent by the patch module to subscribers for them > > to > > install to stay up to date. After each new FOIA release we will > > release > > new snapshots of OpenVistA as reference points and to simplify > > installation for new adopters, but the focus of development will shift > > from releases to patches, a much more dynamic and verifiable mechanism > > for change. > > > > 9) The first release of OpenVistA will be fairly close to the FOIA. We > > are aiming first of all to formalize and strengthen the software > > development lifecycle, and only thereafter to stress that lifecycle > > with > > rapid development. > > > > 10) At the conclusion of this meeting, the resulting code will be ready > > for pre-alpha (non-production) testing, and we will be looking for > > volunteers to do so. We anticipate a cycle of testing and patching > > before we will be ready to go to alpha test (in a production setting). > > Our first patches after release will be driven by this testing, and so > > will emphasize bug fixes and accelerating the software lifecycle (tools > > for testing, verification, analysis, troubleshooting, etc.). > > > > 11) One of the main reasons for creating OpenVistA 4 is to settle on a > > common, verified platform into which we can integrate all the useful, > > verifiable code developed by various OpenVistA teams over the last two > > years. Some of it has already been donated to WorldVistA, more has > > been > > promised, and we will shortly be soliciting donations of code from > > throughout the community. All of this is essentially Class III, i.e., > > unverified code, so it will have to be evaluated, tested, documented, > > and verified before we release it. When it is released, it will be > > released as patches to OpenVistA 4, and will be sent from OpenForum to > > subscribers, so there will be no confusion about the difference between > > the Class III donations and the Class II verified and released code. > > > > 12) In short, at present all code that is in OpenVistA 2.51 (the > > previous release from two years ago) but not the FOIA is Class III, and > > so is all the unofficial OpenVistA code that has grown up around the > > community in the meantime. This meeting transforms OpenVistA to a mix > > of Classes I & II, and sets in motion the process to convert Class III > > work from around the community into Class II patches to OpenVistA. > > > > For the next few days, I will be sending daily email messages about > > this > > meeting, OpenVistA, and related topics in preparation for the meeting > > in > > Seattle. To make OpenVistA 4 and its lifecycle possible, we need to > > decide on a license for OpenVistA 4 and its patches. That will be the > > subject of tomorrow's email. > > > > Sincerely yours, > > Rick Marshall > > President, WorldVistA > > > > PS: At the Seattle meeting, work will also continue on developing a web > > front end for VistA. As that is R&D, no specific deliverable is > > expected at the end of the meeting other than a status update. > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tell us your software development plans! > > Take this survey and enter to win a one-year sub to SourceForge.net > > Plus IDC's 2005 look-ahead and a copy of this survey > > Click here to start! http://www.idcswdc.com/cgi-bin/survey?id=105hix > > _______________________________________________ > > Hardhats-members mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tell us your software development plans! > Take this survey and enter to win a one-year sub to SourceForge.net > Plus IDC's 2005 look-ahead and a copy of this survey > Click here to start! http://www.idcswdc.com/cgi-bin/survey?id=105hix > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > ------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tell us your software development plans! 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