Re: towards feff8.2 release

[Matt Newville <newville@cars.uchicago.edu>]

Alex,

> We need to make several changes before feff8.2 can be
> released to general feff users.  We would greatly appreciate
> both comments and help on any of the items, proposed  below.

Thanks for writing these proposed changes for Feff8.2.  I think
the changes you propose are mostly good ideas, but I may be
biased.  I have technical concerns about some of the specifics,
but they are fairly minor compared to the larger picture.

The larger picture is not very clear to me.  I missed the
'Toolkit' meeting in Seattle, and am not sure what you or John
mean by 'Toolkit' or 'Modular Code'.  I also do not understand
how you define 'developers' compared to 'users'.  Could you
list the developers, and say what it means to be a developer?

It is unclear to me what role you and John see for developers
outside UW Physics.  Do you want development open to anyone or
'invited collaborators' only?  You mention that Stocks' group
at ORNL has people from whom Feff will likely benefit. How is
this possible collaboration going to be implemented?  How do
you plan to share and distribute the intellectual property
generated from such a collaboration?

I don't see much in the Feff Project that encourages people to
join in the development process.  I see (and have personally
experienced) the opposite.  While claiming you want outside
help, the contributions and suggestions given to you in the
past have been routinely ignored and undervalued. Makefiles and
scripts to help compile and run Feff and contributions to Feff
code have been written and donated.  The Feff Project has
chosen to ignore a substantial portion of this work.  It has
steadfastly refused to use an open development model and has
stuck with an anti-intellectual license and distribution policy
that greatly hinders outside collaboration.

And yet, the plan put forth now seems to DEPEND on work being
done outside UW Physics.  I'm must say I'm impressed!  Of
course you'd like volunteer help for your work.  Who wouldn't?
We can all see that outside developers could help you.  The
question is:  What do you have to offer outside developers?

A project like Feff is critically dependent on who is involved.
I think you would do well to identify potential developers and
get their feedback on what they would like to see and what they
would want in return before you decide what is going to be done
and ask for volunteers to do work that you want done but do not
want to do yourselves.

Thanks,

--Matt Newville, Feff Novice.