[Neurodebian-users] [Neurodebian-upstream] [Fwd: [NEST_USER] Increasing Community Involvement in NEST Development]

[Yury V. Zaytsev]

Hi,

I apologize for forwarding this message to the list without any
commentary last week... I was on the move, but I thought that it is
important to spread the word ASAP.

So, basically, the news are as follows:

1) NEST will be released under GPL, which, among others, opens the
possibility for inclusion into NeuroDebian / Debian

2) NEST source code will be available from a version control repository,
new more open development workflow is going to be established

3) NEST Initiative will be transformed into a foundation that will own
the property rights and back the development of the simulator

The development process and foundation statues are still being
discussed, so if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to make
yourself heard on the NEST users list. Also, be sure to let the
developers know if you support these motions!

-- 
Sincerely yours,
Yury V. Zaytsev


On Fri, 2012-09-14 at 16:35 +0200, Yury V. Zaytsev wrote: 
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> From: Hans Ekkehard Plesser <hans.ekkehard.plesser at umb.no>
> To: nest_user at nest-initiative.org 
> Subject: [NEST_USER] Increasing Community Involvement in NEST Development
> Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:45:46 +0000 
> Dear NEST Users and Developers!
> 
> >From its humble beginnings as a student project in the early 1990s, NEST
> has developed into a trusted, widely used tool with a significant user
> and developer community around the globe. We believe that the time has
> come to involve the NEST community better in the future of the NEST
> simulator to exploit our joint potential to the fullest.
> 
> At present, we are planning the following steps towards stronger
> community involvement in NEST, which we hope to implement by early 2013:
> 
>  - Founding a NEST Initiative Association to oversee the development of
> NEST and manage rights in the software.
>  - Releasing NEST under GPL.
>  - Making NEST Source Code available directly from the repository.
>  - Creating an online community forum including access to the source
> code repository and options to post contributions.
> 
> This community forum and code repository will form the main arena for
> sharing questions, advice and contributions to NEST. To take care of the
> formal aspects, we plan to incorporate the NEST Association as an
> association under Swiss law ("Verein"). Following the example of other
> associations "chaperoning" software projects, e.g., the R and KDE
> Foundations, we envision that long-term developers who have made
> significant contributions to NEST will form the core membership of the
> association, while others who want to support work on NEST may join as
> supporting members.
> 
> For those of you who are interested in the formalia, you will find the
> current draft of the statutes of the NEST Association attached (official
> German version and informal English translation). 
> 
> We plan to hold the incorporation meeting of the association in Lausanne
> on October 4th, 2012.
> 
> We would be pleased to hear your comments on our plans, including the
> proposed statutes!
> 
> On behalf of the NEST Initiative
> 
> Markus Diesmann    Marc-Oliver Gewaltig
> Abigail Morrison    Hans Ekkehard Plesser
> 
> 
> --
> 
> Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser, Associate Professor
> Head, Basic Science Section
> 
> Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and Technology
> Norwegian University of Life Sciences
> PO Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway
> 
> Phone +47 6496 5467
> Fax   +47 6496 5401
> Email hans.ekkehard.plesser at umb.no
> Home  http://arken.umb.no/~plesser