[gradebook2-dev] Sakai target version for developing tools

[Michael Wenk]

I vote +1 on developing for 2.7.x as that is the version we QA the
software against.

I would also not be against using 2.8.x as the target version, but I
would prefer 2.7.x.  I think that trunk is currently too much of
moving target, so I don't think that is a good idea.

I also do not see that being forced to have a trunk version of Sakai
deployed to a tomcat as a requirement as a good thing.  I tend to
develop in hosted mode in trunk for gradebook2, but for sakai
development I use whatever version of sakai we're either running in
prod, or running in test, which is very rarely trunk.

If the community's decision is to stick with trunk then why not have a
specific pom and directory that brings in our dependencies?  I see in
Sakai's trunk they have -deploy directories with poms that bring in
the various dependencies that are needed.

Mike



On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Thomas Amsler <tpamsler at ucdavis.edu> wrote:
> We are trying to improve the gradebook2 development and setup process.
> I would like to know how other tool developers in the Sakai community
> handle the following:
>
> Question:
> What version of Sakai should we develop against?
> The focus of this question is about maven dependencies, especially
> [kernel, edu-service, ...]. We could develop against trunk or one of
> the released versions. There are pos/cons for either choice.
>
> Using trunk: (2.9-SNAPSHOT)
> Pro:
> - We would "support" the latest Sakai dependent libraries and structures
> - ...
> Cons:
> - One has to build Sakai in order to get all the maven dependencies
> - May need to reference libraries that have been deployed to Tomcat,
> requiring the user to add a TOMCAT classpath variable besides M2_REPO
> - ...
>
> Using latest released version: (2.8.x)
> Pro:
> - We should be able to download all the maven dependencies from one of
> the available maven repositories, and thus not requiring to build
> Sakai first
> - Fewer surprises w.r.t. changing dependencies
> - ...
> Cons:
> - If dependencies in trunk change significantly, it would take some
> time to adjust the tool as new versions become available.
> - Undocumented development and setup process for institutions that
> need to develop/run against trunk
> - ...
>
> Using the version that the application is QAed against: (e.g. in case
> of gradebook2, that would be 2.7.x)
> Pros:
> - We should be able to download all the maven dependencies from one of
> the available maven repositories, and thus not requiring to build
> Sakai first
> - Fewer surprises w.r.t. changing dependencies
> - Smoother transition from DEV to TEST since we use the same version.
> - ...
> Cons:
> - If dependencies in newer versions (including trunk) change
> significantly, it would take some time to adjust the tool as new
> versions become available.
> - Undocumented development and setup process for institutions that
> need to develop/run against a newer Sakai version
> - ...
>
> There are many more Pros/Cons than the ones that I have listed above,
> and the ones that I have listed may not be valid. That's why I would
> like to hear from the Sakai community about your experience on this
> topic.
>
> Thank you very much for your time.
>
> Best,
> -- Thomas Amsler
>
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-- 
Michael Wenk
mjwenk at ucdavis.edu