[Bioperl-l] Plans for the next release (and beyond)

[Chris Fields]

There is a pressing need to get a 1.6.2 core release out as soon as possible, based on Lincoln's need to get the latest Bio::DB::SeqFeature fixes out to CPAN.  We had been waiting on a few changes are currently lingering on branches that could be merged in when necessary (the GMOD hackathon changes primary among them), but the need isn't immediately pressing to merge them back in prior to a release.  I would also like to avoid the 'commit-frenzy' that sometimes occurs prior to a release if possible, particularly cutting-edge changes, etc.  

My suggestion is, after this release, we start actually working on a few items that will very likely effectively end the 1.6.x release series.

1) Make packaging releases a much less painful process.  Tools already exist to do this (Dist::Zilla, ShipIt), we should definitely take advantage of them.

2) Work on de-monolithizing BioPerl, maybe towards a 1.7 or even a 2.0 release.  We've long talked about doing so, I talked about it at the last BOSC meeting, 'bout time to actually work on it.  This will also address some of the problems Lincoln has been facing with the rapid development cycle of GBrowse v2 vs BioPerl, as was previously experienced with Bio::Graphics, which is a good example of how development of BioPerl-related modules can occur successfully outside the core.

3) I would like to work on moving the HOWTO's and other relevant documentation (Tutorial) back into the distributions, maybe in a particular namespace (Bio::Manual or similar).  The reason is simple: maintaining possibly discordant versions of documentation is unsustainable.  We could possibly set up a way of converting POD->wiki for on-line documentation, but I would like the documentation be tied to the version of the code it comes with, and the only easy way to do so is to package them all together.

Any others?  Concerns, etc?  

chris