M726report

= M7.26 – Workpackage software packaged =


 * Due: 31 October 2013
 * Delivered: 23 October 2013†
 * Purpose: For sustainability and to formalise our contractual agreement with the EC, we need to package the software in industry standard formats, following accepted coding conventions and using version control. Software to be deposited in the Scratchpads git repository.
 * Benefit: Opens up ViBRANT developed software to other contributors, an important consideration for sustainability. Now, both we and other developers can contribute to the code in a controlled manner after the completion of ViBRANT, safe in the knowledge that any one change will not be overwritten by another change.

† Repackaged and reworked existing code was first posted to ViBRANT's git repository in March 2013. The date recorded here is when the milestone report was completed.

Use
Our code has been written so that it can be deposited in and controlled by version control software. Initially we used subversion but changed to git when the Scratchpads development team in workpackage 2 made the change. Hence, all software produced by ViBRANT is available from a set of common source repositories.

The workpackage uses ViBRANT's git repository, originally set up for Scratchpads, the core deliverable of the project.

Screenshot showing ViBRANT's git repository home page, including instructions for access to the controlled software.

The page documents how to gain access to the controlled software. This follows normal industry practice with this server hosted copy acting as the master development thread, from which developers can pull code to work on, and then push to it the changes for everyone to use.

Two examples of use
The workpackage has several git repositories, listed at https://git.scratchpads.eu/v.

The code behind our first deliverable, D7.1 - Community contributed bibliography, is hosted at https://git.scratchpads.eu/v/refbank.git.

Screenshot of RefBank log in ViBRANT's git repository.

We also make use of git repositories for our other code, not directly associated with deliverables. This has the double benefit of providing a controlled working environment during the project, as well as making the code available for re-use and indeed further development after the completion of ViBRANT. For example, here are our ad hoc scripts.

Screenshot of wp7datascripts log in ViBRANT's git repository.

Associated changes
Amongst the other changes implemented as part of this milestone, we have ensured that the LGPL v2 licence is included in our repositories, and reference to that licence is made in the code. For example, in the RefBank repository referred to above: https://git.scratchpads.eu/v/refbank.git/blob/HEAD:/LICENSE.txt.

Where appropriate, our code conforms to industry norms. For example the Python code in wp7datascripts referred to above adheres to PEP8.