Usage and Participation¶

Here you learn how can use and participate in the development of the software and data in the projects on the Open Research server at CITEC.

• Usage and Participation
  • Obtain and use CITEC Open Source software and Open Data databases
    • Licenses
      • Open Source licenses
      • Open Data licenses
  • Participate in a project
  • Projects on the CITEC Open Research server
    • Overview
    • Activity
    • Roadmap
    • Issues
    • New Issue
    • News
    • Wiki
    • Forums
    • Repository
    • Documents
    • Files

Obtain and use CITEC Open Source software and Open Data databases¶

To use the software developed and data generated at CITEC just visit a project's home page. There you will find more information on the software or data in general, licence information, and where to download the software or data.

There are two common places to find and download the software or data: the Files tab and the Repository of a project.

In Open Source software projects the Files tab often provides access to software release versions precompiled and bundled in an archive, complete with instructions on how to install and use the software. The Repository provides access to the source code of the software; here you can check out specific releases or the current state of the development. We use the Apache Subversion revision control system to maintain our software repositories.

In Open Data projects the Files tab provides access to database archives. If generation of data is still in process, or different versions of a database are generated they may be found in the Repository of a project.

If you like to obtain source code or data from a project repository you need to install the Apache Subversion tools.

Licenses¶

There are three different Open Source licenses and Open Data licenses in use at CITEC OpenSource: the GNU General Public License v3, the GNU Lesser General Public License v3, and the Mozilla Public License (MPL) for open source, and the Open Data Commons Open Database License, the Open Data Commons Attribution License, and the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License.

Open Source licenses¶

The GNU General Public License (GPL) v3 introduces the Copyleft paradigm. Any derived work must be available under the same license terms. This basically means, if you find the software useful, modify and sell it, you have to make the modified version also Open Source under the same terms.

The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) v3 allows other software that makes use of the software (e.g., statically linking against a library) be exempt from the Copyleft clause. This allows to use the software in commercial applications without having to make their applications open source.

The Mozilla Public License allows proprietary use of software. It only states that files originally under the MPL must remain under this license. It allows the addition of files (proprietary work), and the promotion as commercial software.

Open Data licenses¶

The Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL) v1.0 allows to copy, distribute and use the database, to produce works from the database, and to modify, transform and build upon the database.

The Open Data Commons Attribution License (ODC-By) v1.0 allows to copy, distribute and use the database, to produce works from the database, and to modify, transform and build upon the database. It requires the attribution of any public use of the database, or works produced from the database.

The Open Database License (ODbL) v1.0 allows to copy, distribute and use the database, to produce works from the database, and to modify, transform and build upon the database. It requires the attribution of any public use of the database, or works produced from the database. Adapted version of this database, or works produced from an adapted database must also offer the database under the ODbL.

Please make familiar with details of the license of a software or database before you use it in own projects.

Participate in a project¶

You may participate in the CITEC Open Research projects. You may contribute to a discussion in a forum of a project, report issues (e.g., features or bugs), help to extend the functionality of or smooth and polish software, extend databases, and contribute to the documentation. If you like to not only use the software or data, but become an active project member, please feel free to contact the project managers. Tell them how you want to participate and why, and provide them with the following information: your name, organisation, country, e-mail, and homepage, if available.

Projects on the CITEC Open Research server¶

The projects hosted on CITEC Open Research provide varying facilities for collaborative software development and database generation. Every project provides you with a project overview and information about recent activities in the project. Most software projects will offer an issue tracker.

Overview¶

The Overview tab provides you with a summary of the project. Here you will find a description of the project, a list of its members, and a list with the latest news. A Gantt and a calendar view of project milestones and issues might be available in most software projects here.

Activity¶

The Activity tab lists the activities in the project. You get a quick impression of what is currently happening in the project. This page is available as an RSS feed.

Roadmap¶

The Roadmap tab lists all milestones (versions) of a project. For every version it displays all open issues.

Issues¶

The Issues tab provides you with an overview of all issues of a project, their current state, the assignee, and their last update. You may apply custom filters the issue list and change its order. A Gantt and a calendar view of project milestones and issues are available here. The page is available as an RSS feed.

New Issue¶

In the New Issue tab you may file new issues. There are three trackers you may chose for your issues: Feature, Bug, and Support.

News¶

The News tab is the place where the project managers make announcements. Look here if you are searching for information about new releases, etc. The page is available as an RSS feed.

Wiki¶

The Wiki is the source of documentation of the project. Here you find the latest detailed information on the software or database.

Forums¶

The discussion Forums provide you with the possibility to come into contact and dicusss with the developers and other users of the software. The page is available as an RSS feed.

Repository¶

The Repository tab lets you browse through the source code of most software projects. It provides project statistics and details about all revisions. The page is available as an RSS feed.

Documents¶

The Document tab is where you find files used in the project. Here you will often find related work.

Files¶

The Files tab provides you with versions of software or databases as packed archives, often in binary format. If you just want to use a software package or database this is the place to look first.