[sakai2-tcc] Status of 2.8 additions, deprecations, and other changes

[Seth Theriault]

Hello,

In the haze of the run-up to the 2.8 code freeze (TUESDAY, 23:59 UTC), 
I'd like to re-summarize our actions on the proposed additions and 
deprecations for the next release based on information presented on 2.8 
page:

http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/TCC/List+of+Planned+2.8.0+Changes

What follows is my opinion, so I encourage your comments and corrections.

There are some things that are in trunk and have been "approved" (by 
vote or consensus), while other things haven't. For those things that 
need discussion and votes, I suggest that we get it done by the end of 
this week.

== Deprecations

All of the proposed deprecations and removals seem to be in good shape. 
They have been discussed, approved, and for most part, committed.

== Additions

Additions are much more murky. My sense is the following:

- CK Editor (Noah Botimer)

Noah is on top of this and has communicated what he plans to do by the 
CF. I think we need to "approve" this for the record by vote or otherwise.

- BasicLTI Simple Outcomes (Chuck Severance)

It's in trunk, has a test plan, and Chuck is supervising it closely.

- ShortenedUrlService (Steve Swinsburg)

Currently in contrib. Some discussion has occurred, but no consensus 
seems to have emerged about if and where it should be put into trunk. I 
think this needs some sort of formal proposal and vote for clarity.

- Localization w/database back-end (John Bush)

The KNL part is in trunk, while the user-facing tool is in contrib. I 
think consensus has formed around this split for 2.8. Like CK Editor, we 
probably need to put the formal stamp on this.

- Quartz Job Scheduler (Duffy Gillman)

This is in trunk. The work was done in conjunction with the MT (the 
maintainers of the job scheduler) and there seems to be consensus on its 
inclusion. It probably needs the same "approval" for the record as the 
above.

- Updated blog tool (Lancaster)

I think this is out for 2.8.

- Updated Roster tool (Lancaster)

There was a lenghty discussion on the list. It's out, and Lancaster has 
decided to put this into contrib.

- S3/Nakamura Hybrid (Lance Speelmon)

Lance has circulated his proposal to us and MT. I think some more 
discussion is probably warranted and a formal vote should be taken.

- MessageService

I haven't seen any discussion or action on this so I am assuming it's 
out for 2.8.

- Email Notification Preferences (SAK-18859)

Chris Maurer has this work in a branch and notified sakai-dev (and 
possibly us) 10+ days ago. I don't think it's in trunk yet and also has 
a Kernel dependency (KNL-585). I think this needs focused discussion and 
an approval by vote.

- Account Validation (David Horwitz)

It looks as though this is in trunk (based on the RES-2 comment and a 
ViewVC check). It probably needs a formal stamp of approval.

== Architectural and library changes

I think there is consensus that no Tomcat 6/Java 1.6-related changes are 
to be made for 2.8, but will be worked on for 2.9. In addition, no 
Oracle-related deprecations will happen for 2.8.