Problems with the Components Page

{{#eclipseproject:technology.higgins}}

Current Problems

• Lack of adherence to definition of component as a service description (analogous to a Java interface)
  • Some tables comprise N>1 component --this should no longer be allowed
  • projects (rows) within a component should be marked as either being (a) alternate implementations of the component contract for different runtime environments/languages, etc. or (b) separate constituent projects that taken together implement the component contract
  • Some tables/sections use the same component name for different services (e.g. HBX4FF is a different service than Firefox Embedded HBX)
• Broken links to download pages (need to suppress display of the link)
• Lack of consistency in names of wiki pages at "component" level vs. "project" level
• Lack of precise definitions of "Component" and "Project", etc. has contributed to confusion
• Lack of adherence to one row = one project (e.g. tcpserver)
• Broken links in "Owner" column (Tie Li, Paula, Andy)
• Lack of LED build indicators (can't remember if we've given up on this or not)
• Many missing "First check=in" values (SVN tags)

Proposed Fixes

• Create (precise) definitions of "Component" and "Project" terms. Add definitions to Components page
• For projects/rows: where possible, enforce name of project (all lowercase) = [org.eclipse.higgins.[name]] = name of wiki page
• Comb through the Components page tables and
  • create new table macro to enforce latest rules (allow downloads link suppression, enforce wiki page name == project name)
  • edit the tables to conform to the latest rules
  • break up tables in some cases
  • Change structure of the table to allow multiple language (e.g. C++ and Java) implementations of the Component service.
• Break some projects into separate projects (e.g. tcpserver)
• Add a link http://wiki.eclipse.org/Higgins_SVN_Branch_Structure
• Disallow nesting/combination of components in a single table
• Get after component owners to update contact links, restructure, etc.