[SciPy-dev] requesting feedback on/editing of scikits wiki-page

[David Cournapeau]

Alexander Schmolck wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
>
> As the author of the first (if yet unreleased) scikit, I've tried to put some
> info for prospective scikit authors on
>
>  <http://projects.scipy.org/scipy/scikits/wiki/WikiStart>
>
> that tries to condense down the most important points for those who are not
> yet familiar with the required infrastructure like setuptools (which is fairly
> rich) etc. to make things a little less overwhelming. A few things also still
> need clarification. As I'm myself just learning to get to grips with various
> of these things, so this page could use some attention from someone more
> knowledgable than me.
>
> Here are a few specific points (search for FIXME/XXX in the document)
>
> 0. Blurp: What sort of things are suitable for a scikit project, what
>    requirements must be met by projects or authors to qualify (this should
>    also include something on acceptable/desirable[1] licenses, dependencies,
>    code quality etc.) and what the overall aims and immediate future for
>    scikits look like. I'm not really the person to write that so I just wrote
>    something brief and vague.
>
> 1. Trac: I'm not really that familiar with trac, but I assume some sorts of
>    conventions/infrastructure will need to be established in order for
>    logically independent projects to use the same trac effectively. I guess
>    one first step might be to use ``trac-admin`` to create each scikit (i.e.
>    mlabwrap) as a component? 
>
> 2. Homepage/Wiki/Docstandards etc. info. 
>
>    Hmm, it occurs to me that a link to coding standards might also be a good
>    idea...
>
> 3. Versioning: I think it would be nice if there were a standard way how
>    people version their scikits, both conventions-wise as well as how the
>    process is automated as far as is possible. I've outlined a
>    setuptools-based solution in preference to one using numpy.distutils docs
>    pretty opaque[1].
>
> 4. Testing: looks like I'll need to write this some other time...
>
> Please fix directly as you see fit or post here if you have suggestions or
> want to discuss it.
>
One thing which may need to be changed is the license requirement. I 
thought one of the point of scikits was to include code useful for scipy 
community, but which cannot be licensed to BDS/MIT. For example, 
including GPL code, or package which depends on LGPL libraries. 
malabwrap for that matter depends on proprietary libraries to work...

Once this issue is solved, I would be happy to give two toolboxes of my 
own for audio signal processing (released under the BSD, but depending 
on LGPL libraries).

David