Engineering:TCON 02 03 Pipeline

Attendees: Lorensen, Pan, Styner, Pieper, Sean Murphy (MGH), Mike Mendez (MGH), Ibanez, Schroeder, Kapur

Highlights of discussion:

• LONI pipeline introduction
  • Intro page is here

• Software must be delivered open source
  • NIH NCBC RFA: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-04-003.html
  • It must be clear that "open source" is not just making the code available. The licensing policy assciated to the code must allow to use it for commercial applications, redistribution, modification and redistribution of the modified version. GPL and LGPL licenses, for example, will not be enough for satisfying this definition of "open source" because they impose restrictions on the use of the software.
  • The LONI Sofware license specifies that "Permission is granted to use this software without charge for non-commercial research purposes only." This is compliance with NIH requirements, i.e.
    1. The software should be freely available to biomedical researchers and educators in the non-profit sector, such as institutions of education, research institutes, and government laboratories.
    2. The terms of software availability should permit the commercialization of enhanced or customized versions of the software, or incorporation of the software or pieces of it into other software packages.

since we do (1) provide the software free for research, and (2) allow for commercialization of the software.

• Java tools (e.g. Quartz) and possible benefits to LONI

• Software process at AHM in SLC

• The need for capturing communications (such as email) into an archivable, easy to follow forum

Related to Morphometry BIRN discussion here.