[sword-devel] Taming Wild Threads (was: Getting stuff done (Re: External links))

[Peter von Kaehne]

Daniel Owens wrote:
> This discussion (despite the occasional vitriolic accusation or personal attack) is really important. There are two issues at stake--one is technical (and this discussion is producing collaboration on that), but the other is administrative, related to module creation, and that is my primary concern in this response. I'm not going to whine--I'm going to PLEAD and SUGGEST. We all want SWORD to be great, so in the interest of making SWORD great, here are my thoughts:
> 
> 1. Modules are ESSENTIAL to the value of the SWORD engine. Please, let's make them a priority. It could be argued that they are already, but clearly there is frustration brewing among multiple module developers (including me) about the unnecessary difficultly involved in getting a module to work properly and be published. Clearly, in addition to work on filters, some work on administrative issues is necessary.
> 
> 2. The Crosswire repo is a bottleneck. I think Chris needs help to get modules through in a timely manner. More people need to be involved at that step. PLEASE let's find a way to reduce the turnaround time for module publishing. I'm willing to contribute there.
> 
> 3. Encouraging other repos is fine (especially if they are automatically set up in module installers--this is an exciting development!), but there is no documentation that I know of on how to set one up. I queried this list about problems I had and got no response. Please HELP. Even better, could someone create a wiki page on how to set up a repo?
> 
> 4. Yes, let's maintain source files for ALL modules, only making them public if it is appropriate. That will facilitate bug fixing as well as new module creation. I obtained permission from Crossway to view the ESV source once, and that file had been lost. I still can't figure out how to create a source file that produces a compiled module with the features of the ESV module, and it's been over a year since I started working on it. It's NOT a matter of just using valid OSIS--you have to divine or accidentally discover a hack solution. If working modules were available as examples that would help folks like me and Peter learn how to create good source files.
> 
> 5. I've only worked at learning OSIS and TEI, not ThML, but I have discovered that PRISTINE OSIS doesn't always work with SWORD, and ironically GnomeSword supports OSIS the best. Credit should go to Karl and the GnomeSword team for that. The wiki page presents an ideal, but in reality there is a SWORD OSIS schema that is unpublished and unarticulated. PLEASE, can we have an AUTHORITATIVE catalog of supported mark-up and a place to request valid OSIS mark-up that we want supported? If the former doesn't sound feasible, surely the latter is. No one should expect complete support of the OSIS schema, but things like headings, footnotes, and crossreferences should just work, but they sometimes don't. Additional markup should be able to be added, though.
> 
> Again, please read this as expressing a desire to help make SWORD great. Personality conflicts aside, these administrative issues need to be addressed What does everyone else think? 
> 
> Daniel 


Seconded on all counts

Peter