[doap-interest] Dependencies and releases

[Dan Brickley]

* Edd Dumbill <edd at usefulinc.com> [2004-09-28 10:21+0100]
> Hi list,
> 
> Glad to see there's some interest in getting dependencies and releases
> better subscribed.  It's been a requirement I've been thinking of, along
> with the project/subproject relationships.

It's worth having a go at, definitely. Particularly given all the work
done by Debian and co. Hopefully it's just a matter of reflecting that
stuff into RDF structures.
 
> I tend to think we need to do quite a bit of thinking about this before
> putting it in.  My strawman model for modelling such things will be the
> metadata present in Debian packages.  As Debian manages to successfully
> package pretty much all open source software in existence, I expect
> their release metadata and dependency modelling to be very near what
> DOAP needs.

+1

A possible diversion here might be literate-programmingish efforts to do 
inline metadata, eg. in a Java class or Perl module, embed enough
metadata for a DOAP aggregator or IDE to help with scenarios like "I'm
thinking of changing this class interface, what are the Jabber IDs or
email addresses of the creators of shipping code that sub-classes mine?".

If you decide to get into that area, I'd be interested to revisit some
Ruby ideas for Dave Thomas' rdoc utility. Ah, looks like it is shipping 
in the rdoc distro...
http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/35297
http://rdoc.sourceforge.net/doc/files/README.html
http://esw.w3.org/topic/SoftwarePackaging has a few notes on the Ruby
work, plus general background links.

This stuff is really getting into the innards of software objects, and 
perhaps DOAP initially at least is concerned with public interfaces. So
feel free to put on the "interesting, maybe later?" pile...

> For those considering solutions, please also consider what the simplest
> solution to the problem might be, too.
> 
> Just a word on process, although I am reluctant to mention it.
> Basically, I reserve the right to control the DOAP schema as I see fit.
> But I hope you'll find me somebody who listens and engages in
> discussions.  Your decision to engage with DOAP really depends on how
> much you trust me as a person.

I've every confidence in your ability to get this done. 

cheers,

Dan