VuFind Developers Call Minutes: July 19, 2016

Attending: Chris Delis, Matthias Edel, Leila Gonzales, Chris Hallberg, Demian Katz, Jochen Lienhard, Brad Patton, Jay Roos, James

• VUFIND-1176 - The process of separating the OAI-PMH harvester to its own project is now complete.
• VUFIND-1190 - Some more SQL compatibility issues have been resolved in VuFind 3.0.2; this ticket describes the details.
• VUFIND-1191 - Bug report: tag searches created unnecessary entries in the tag table of the database. The problem has now been fixed.
• VUFIND-1192 - Bug report: problems with web-based PostgreSQL installer. Fixed.
• VUFIND-1193 - Feature request: mechanism for lightbox-based image display (when clicking images, to display larger version on same page).
• VUFIND-1194 - Proposal: improved database security options for Horizon ILS driver.
• VUFIND-1195 - Proposal: new ILS driver mechanism for fetching dynamic bib-level details like number of holds and usage stats.

• #754 - in progress - Proposal to change the way location names are translated (waiting for input from Ere).
• #755, #756 - merged - A new idPrefix setting for the NoILS ILS driver (to improve compatibility with the MultiBackend driver).
• #757 - in progress - An initial implementation of an “asset pipeline” as discussed a while back in VUFIND-870.
• #758 - in progress - New option to pre-load certain record tabs automatically for improved user experience.

This went out on time, as planned. Some bug reports (VUFIND-1191 and VUFIND-1192) came in after the release, so 3.0.3 will be needed.

• see PR #659
• The JS minification aspect of this ended up spinning off into an asset pipeline project which has been a major focus of the latest development cycle.

• see PR #693 for progress
• No news this cycle.

Nothing else this time.

No news.

As noted above, the OAI-PMH harvester is now separated into a stand-alone project.

No news.

No news.

PR #722 is continuing to be developed but is now at a point where basic functionality is working and can be demonstrated.

A few more bugs have turned up in 3.0.2, so we should schedule a 3.0.3 release. No objections to August 1 release there.

We should also start thinking about 3.1, preferably with a release near the Summit. September 26 proposed as release date.

Discussion of what needs to be included:

Already in JIRA: fixing semi-case-insensitive tags, turning on eDisMax.

Leila would like to see geographic code in this release.

Bob Haschart is working on a major revision of SolrMarc that will greatly improve speed, add some new customization options and adjust the interface a bit. Demian will work with him to test as needed; this may be a strong candidate for inclusion in 4.0.

Solr 6 is out (actually, it's up to 6.1 already). This will raise Java requirements to Java 8, so not a candidate for inclusion until VuFind 4.0 at the earliest. It may be worth establishing a branch/PR to begin testing, however.

No news.

Call for papers has been sent out and registration is now open.

Demian has begun investigating technology options for the joint session. Adobe Connect is an option, as is use of a local TANDBERG conferencing system (which might offer better quality, but would prevent the session from being streamed/recorded). Demian, Jochen and VU's technology department will discuss this further, but it appears that Adobe Connect will be the best choice.

Jochen has proposed a schedule for the joint session which consists of lightning talks from German developers and an update on Summit progress from the American side. This will conclude with a joint Q&A that has the option of running long if necessary since there is no specific scheduled item following the session on either side.

Jay emphasized the need for ILS-provided bibliographic-level information and reiterated the request for comments/feedback on VUFIND-1195. Demian summarized the options he described on the ticket and suggested some paths forward for prototyping to encourage further discussion.

The next call will be Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 9am Eastern Daylight Time (13:00 GMT).