Developer Support

Whether you are developing software to contribute to OMII-UK, or developing with OMII-UK software for use in your own applications, this page provides links to helpful information.

Contributing Software to OMII-UK

When developing software for OMII-UK (e.g. as part of the Commissioned Software Programme) we provide a set of software release recommendations, as well as an evaluation process for determining the level and types of support suitable for the software. Details can be found here.

Software is expected to meet recognised open source best practices, as well as adopt an appropriately 'open' open source license. OSS Watch is an advisory service that provides unbiased advice and information on the use, development and licensing of free and open source software.

Open Standards

OMII-UK advocates the use of open standards in software, to promote sustainability through easier maintenance and interoperability with other implementations of those standards. Software developed for OMII-UK should adopt these standards where appropriate. Below is a list of links to organisations that develop and promote standards that are of particular relevance and have been adopted by our software:

• Open Grid Forum (OGF) - a "community of users, developers, and vendors leading the global standardization effort for grid computing".
• Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) - a "not-for-profit consortium that drives the development, convergence and adoption of open standards for the global information society".
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - is "an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards".

Platforms to Support

When electing which platforms to support, it is recommended that an appropriate subset of these platforms are considered, whilst obviously taking into account any domain-specific requirements.

Software Development

It is expected that software developed for OMII-UK conforms to widely accepted conventions for coding style, structure and the use of recognised development tools, to promote software sustainability through ease of maintenance. Below is a list of links to some of the more popular, predominantly open source, development tools and guidelines that OMII-UK and our collaborators have used:

• Coding style:
  • Sun Java recommended code conventions
  • Apache Java Coding Style Guide
• Integrated Development Enviroment platforms:
  • Eclipse IDE
  • NetBeans IDE
• Build and Software Project Tools:
  • Maven - a build manager for Java projects.
  • Ant - a build system commonly used for building Java.
• Source code repositories and versioning control:
  • Subversion (SVN) source code repository - preferred
  • Concurrent Versions System (CVS)
• Java:
  • Latest recommended version of Java 2 Standard Edition http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
  • Older available releases of Java 2 Standard Edition http://java.sun.com/products/archive/

Software Provision

For those wishing to be involved in contributing to the development of software, developers should be able to access either an up-to-date SVN or CVS code repository for source code. This enables software to have a sustainable future by centering contributions and developments around a community-oriented, public infrastructure.

The following are good examples of publically accessible open source development web sites, that include a source code repository, issue trackers and mailing lists for development projects:

• SourceForge - the world's largest open source software development web site.
• NeSCForge - a collaborative software development site for the UK e-Science community, based on GForge and provided by the National e-Science Centre, Edinburgh.

Developing with OMII-UK Software

You can obtain more information about OMII-UK software through the Software pages, including development-related links.

Documentation and Tutorials

• Software Documentation - information on use, installation and configuration of OMII-UK software.
• Training and Tutorials - links to tutorials on developing with OMII-UK software and basic and advanced aspects of use.
• Overview of Security in OMII-UK - this provides an overview of the security models used within OMII-UK software.

Supported Platforms

Platforms supported by the Campus Grid Toolkit and the Development Kit can be found here.

JavaDoc API Documentation

Where an API exists, JavaDoc API documentation is included within the OMII-UK software releases.

Support

For answers to development, technical or any other queries regarding OMII-UK software, see our support page.