[Insight-developers] Backward Compatibility

Tue May 13 07:29:15 EDT 2008

This may be a situation where we create a new function that performs
the operation correctly, and we begin to deprecate the old function.

It is highly likely that someone in the world has also discovered this
feature and developed a work-around in their code.  If we change it,
we will break their code, i.e., WE will create a bug in their code
that would be extremely difficult for them to detect and potentially
critical to the output they produce.

The new function name should be more explicit of the operation it performs:

TransformPhysicalPointToCenteredIndex   ?
TransformPhysicalPointToRoundedIndex ?

etc

That's my suggestion.

Stephen

On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 5:16 AM, Andreas Keil <andreas.keil at cs.tum.edu> wrote:
> Dear ITK developers,
>
>  triggered by the "adopt a bug program" - I consider getting more involved
>  in ITK. For this reason, I kindly ask you to point me to ITK's backward
>  compatibility policy. So far, I found the sources mentioned at
>  http://www.itk.org/Wiki/ITK_Policies_and_Procedures which tell me that
>  this issue is still an open discussion. I am still wondering how strictly
>  backward compatibility is enforced, i.e. in which cases backward
>  compatibility is allowed to be broken. (I mean, there must be cases where
>  it may be broken, e.g. when fixing severe bugs.)
>  I am specifically wondering about the following two bugs I reported:
>
>  # 0004560 (http://www.itk.org/Bug/view.php?id=4560)
>  Here, I would vote for reopening the issue and throwing exceptions
>  whenever one of the Set... methods is called with the parameter i out of
>  bounds. Throwing an error here would not really change ITK's behaviour. It
>  would only change the exception handling which is anyways only performed
>  in case a user used the class incorrectly. If I were such a user, I would
>  be glad to have a changed behaviour here, wouldn't I?
>
>  # 0006558 (http://www.itk.org/Bug/view.php?id=6558)
>  In the case of this so far unattended but IMHO really severe bug, every
>  fix would change behaviour since the current implementation is plain
>  wrong. I would have volunteered to work on a fix. However, I don't feel
>  experienced enough to work on this bug which is located in the heart of
>  ITK - the ImageBase class, esp. since it requires changing ITK's
>  behaviour.
>
>  Looking forward to your comments,
>  Andreas.
>
>
>
>  -----Original Message-----
>  From: insight-users-bounces at itk.org [mailto:insight-users-bounces at itk.org]
>  On Behalf Of Luis Ibanez
>  Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 04:25
>  To: Insight Users
>  Subject: [Insight-users] PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT: "ADOPT A BUG"
>
>
>
>
>             Our bugs are feeling sad and lonely
>                   due to lack of attention.
>
>
>
>
>          We have decided to give them out for adoption.
>
>
>
>
>             Join now the "Adopt a Bug" program,
>                 and help us make ITK a more
>                 useful and reliable toolkit.
>
>
>
>
>  As you probably have heard from recent posts to the mailing list,
>  ITK is in need of a *bug purification campaign*. We have a collection
>  of bugs that have been lingering for quite a while, and some of
>  them even have fixes proposed by the bug reporters.
>
>
>  In order to tackle this challenge, we would like to engage the
>  *collective intelligence* of the users community.
>
>
>  One of the strongest assets of Open Source is the enormous potential of
>  the large number of users that can make small localized contributions.
>
>  The cumulative effect of those contributions can not possibly be matched
>  by a traditional organization. There is no way that the developers team
>  could ever compete with the aggregated brain power of more than 1500
>  well-educated users currently subscribed to the mailing list.
>
>
>
>  We are looking for courageous users willing to contribute some hours
>  of their time to ensure that our bugs receive the care that they
>  deserve.
>
>
>
>  By adopting any of our dearest 257 open bugs, you will commit to
>  take the steps needed for making sure that your adopted bug gets
>  fixed before the release of ITK 3.8.
>
>
>
>  We care about our bugs and therefore we will not simply give them
>  away to strangers. Bug adoptive parents should satisfy the following
>  requirements:
>
>
>      1) Have good C++ skills
>
>
>      2) Adhere to the Dashboard quality practices
>
>
>      3) Subscribe to the following strong parental attitude:
>
>            "If you guys don't fix it, I will fix it"
>
>
>      4) Respect the backward compatibility policy
>
>
>
>
>  As a participant in the "Adopt a Bug" program you will receive CVS write
>  access to the ITK repository and you will be entitled to commit bug
>  fixes by yourself. You will be encouraged to work with other developers
>  in finding consensus on the best way to fix a bug.
>
>
>
>  As ITK users you probably will be interested in a particular bug
>  that may be making difficult for you to get your project done.
>  That one will probably be the best bug for you to adopt since you
>  will be directly interested in getting that bug fixed as soon
>  as possible.
>
>
>
>         Please join the "Adopt a Bug" program today
>         and help make ITK a better place to program.
>
>         Pick your Bug now at:
>
>                http://public.kitware.com/Bug
>
>
>         and send us email so that we can take care
>         of the adoption paperwork.
>
>
>
>
>    Thanks
>
>
>       Luis
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  Insight-developers mailing list
>  Insight-developers at itk.org
>  http://www.itk.org/mailman/listinfo/insight-developers
>

-- 
Stephen R. Aylward, Ph.D.
Chief Medical Scientist
Kitware, Inc. - Chapel Hill Office
http://www.kitware.com
(518) 371-3971 x300