All-
As promised, I've collected the plans/tasks for the
PDL-2.4.7 release and updated the PDL/TODO file on
the latest git. I invite you to take a look at the
list and you'll see we've made a lot of progress on
the list.
The biggest remaining task is finishing the multi-
platform support for PDL::Graphics::PLplot. This
entails:
(1) implementing Alien::PLplot to handle getting
and/or installing the PLplot dependency for
each platform
(2) fixing PDL::Graphics::PLplot to build with
those installs
(3) verifying the PDL build process to ensure
it now builds PDL::Graphics::PLplot on all
the baseline PDL platforms: win32, macosx,
and unix/linux/*bsd...
Rob and David have made a lot of progress with
various pieces of this puzzle. What is needed
now is someone to implement Alien::PLplot with
the knowledge they have gained.
The rest of the release is very well underway as
far as coding with most of the software at least
up and running partially. The documentation and
web site work and usability contributions have
kept us all on our toes! :-) In fact, I'm a bit
worried that the PDL-2.4.7 won't be done in time
for the new logo's unveiling!
If you are interested in volunteering to lead
or contribute to any of the tasks for PDL-2.4.7,
please step forward.
I had originally hoped to have this release by
the end of the August but I'm afraid my available
PDL development time is going to decrease
significantly so without additional help, the
release will probably need to be pushed back.
On the other hand, the CPAN developers release
gives nice access to the latest capability as
an interim although there are issues with the
documentation not up-to-date with those versions
(since they are not official releases).
Regards,
Chris
What follows is that task list and description of the work
planned for the upcoming PDL-2.4.7 release. The main
goal for this release is to have a baseline PDL that
builds on *all* PDL OS platforms: win32, macosx, linux/unix
and that supports 2D (PLplot) and 3D (TriD) graphics on
*all* platforms.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| PDL-2.4.7 CRITICAL PATH |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
This section documents the top level tasks from
the more detailed list below. The first column
of the line indicates the priority of that item
(and those below it) for the PDL-2.4.7 release:
R -- required for release to occur
N -- nice to have but not mandatory
no mark means same as super bullet or FYI
Each item has some task description based on the
current status.
Need to test PDL build from scratch
Required
Needs multiple testers capable of building PDL
and willing to configure their system for a
clean room run of the install process(es).
We need to confirm that PDL-2.4.7 builds completely
from scratch on all PDL platforms by testing. This
includes starting from the vanilla system and getting
and installing PDL the way a new user would.
Verify dependency detection across all major PDL platforms
Required
Needs multiple testers willing to check a clean
build of each dependency on their platform and
report what happens with and without dependency.
Confirm that all dependencies for each platform
are correctly detected and reported. If there
are issues, they should be in the Known_problems
for platform specific information.
Add support for Known_problems to tests
Required
This is basically adding a SKIP section to tests
that correspond to open sf.net bugs and conditionalize
on the environment of the build. Needed by release
time to support user builds.
Clean up and triage for tickets prior to release.
Required
Needs volunteers (especially for bugs with special
platform requirements, such as HDF that some folks
might not have).
We're making progress here. Every litte bit helps.
Alien modules for the external PDL dependencies
* Alien::PLplot
* Alien::PROJ4
Required
**** NEEDS VOLUNTEERS TO COMPLETE ****
**** This is the long pole in the ****
**** tent for PDL-2.4.7 release. ****
**** Having a standard, baseline ****
**** 2D graphics modules for PDL ****
**** is a primary goal of 2.4.7! ****
This is the first stage of getting PDL::Graphics::PLplot
working cross-platform: be able to have the PLplot lib
checked for or even installed as a dependency. Work in
Alien::SDL would be a good starting point here.
Define standard paths for external dependency libraries for PDL
Required
This is basically bookkeeping so that as the
dependency issues are sorted out, we have a
standard PDL-specific local install location
for non-system library installs.
List and obtain module owners and developers for existing PDL modules
Required
Again, this is basically bookkeeping so that
as the dependency issues are sorted out, we
have a designated POC/maintainer for each
PDL component.
Update PDL web site pages
Required
This is well underway.
Review current documentation (underway)
Required
This is well underway.
Add/update platform install notes to PDL wiki
Required
Recent list queries and new user discussions
suggest that having
Add CPAN shell startup info to PDL wiki or web page
Required
Recent list queries and new user discussions
suggest that we need to revisit the beginner
documentation for how to get started with PDL.
We definitely need clear instructions for how
to start from scratch with cpan to install
PDL (verify on all PDL platforms).
Document how to set up a local sandbox for PDL build
Nice to have
A number of PDL users are configuring their
own local library, perl, and PDL installations.
It would be nice if clear directions were
written down so everyone doesn't have to
reinvent the same wheel.
How to install the CPAN Testers reporting packages
Nice to have
CHM volunteers to write this up.
The new CPAN Testers version 2.0 has been
released. It uses a web-based interface to
send reports rather than email. As a result
is is much easier to configure than the old
interface. As such, we would get better PDL
feedback if we have a quick-start for that.
Add docs/support for users of other non-PDL software
Nice to have
This has already been address. Of course, further
improvements are always possible but we're probably
good for 2.4.7 as we stand.
Update PDL Book (in progress)
Nice to have
Matt Kenworthy has been working on web-izing
the previous manuscript based on Tex/LaTeX.
Work continues but the status re a 2.4.7
release schedule is not known.
Improve PDL usability for first time users
Required
A simple cpan or platform package install should
work out of the box. Maybe not all dependencies
will be there but PDL should build with 2D and
3D graphics support if possible.
Clean up build output from make process to reduce cruft
Nice to have
This is a placeholder in case someone gets motivated
to help. Not required at all for PDL-2.4.7 release.
Fix PDL config
Required
This is a reported bug at sf.net where the
%PDL::Config hash is not updated from the
results of the "have PDL check" options in
the perldl.conf file.
Fix the test problems with preexisting PDL installs
Nice to have
This would involve writing a routine to probe
@INC for PDL (or maybe an arbitrary module) and
reporting whether it was already installed.
You would need to make sure not to pick up
the blib version from the build process.
Check/set perldl.conf options before the PDL build?
Nice to have
I think giving users an interactive option to set
the perldl.conf values would be nice.
Need PLplot and PDL::Graphics::PLplot to build all platforms
Required
Progress has been made by David and Rob on building
PLplot and/or PDL::Graphics::PLplot for a number of
platforms.
This task involves getting the soup-to-nuts install
of PDL::Graphics::PLplot working starting with the
installation/configuration of PLplot via Alien::PLplot
and followed by the configuration and build of the
PDL::Graphics::PLplot module. The core work of
porting has been done. The remaining work seems to
be mainly wrapping up the Alien::PLplot and getting
things to work all together.
Complete Perldl2 shell:
* Fix demo to work with Perldl2
* Fix Ctrl-C handling for win32 systems
* Add safe pdl allocation option to prevent OOM death
Required
CHM has volunteered for this task. The basic pdl2
shell is already working and will run with the new
features if Devel::REPL is installed. Otherwise
it falls back to the perldl shell.
The remaining work here is cleanup of some minor
issues, implement remaining perldl features for
back compatibility and a coupld of nice-to-haves
in better Ctrl-C handling and avoiding fatal OOM
errors when running interactively in win32.
Add support for improved 2D image display using TriD
* Move imag2d() into a module form
* Enable REPL and GUI simultaneous operations and event loops
Required
CHM plans to move imag2d into a module form for the
PDL-2.4.7 release. If time permits, it might be
possible to get the simultaneous REPL and GUI
operations enabled (at least for Term::ReadLine::Perl).
New pdl() constructor with matlab [] syntax for string arguments
Nice to have
The new pdl constructor handline of string arguments
with MATLAB style array syntax is in the git PDL.
Some additional checks need to be made for edge
cases and to check that it does what is expected.
Ideally we should be able to cut-n-paste the print
output of a piddle into the constructor as a
string and get the piddle back (modulo float format)
Finish spheres3d implementation
Nice to have
CHM volunteers to finish color and radius support for
this routine.
PDL::Constants
Nice to have
We've had mailing list discussions on this topic.
All that needs to be done is the implementation.
The idea is to use Readonly as the basis for the
constants and, perhaps, have a 'use constant'
fall back version.
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