Development IRC meeting 2 February 2016

Place

The #koha IRC channel (IRC server irc.oftc.net).

If you don't have an IRC client you can join the meeting using your web browser.

Time

2 February 2016, 15 UTC Time and Date.com converter for various local times

Agenda

Introductions (please use "#info" in front of your introduction to have it show up in the automatic minutes)

Review coding guidelines
- New coding guidelines
  - [marcelr] In relation to Plack: Should we add a PERL rule that prohibits defining lexical variables (my $var) in MODULES at the outermost block (file level), and also prohibits directly accessing file level lexicals in subroutines of SCRIPTS.
  - [marcelr] What about DBIx, Koha::Object versus old school MySQL statements in code ?
    - [khall] I think the use of direct DBIx should be deprecated in favor of Koha::Object, and direct sql statements should be limited to queries that don't work well with the object model
  - [marcelr] New modules should be added if possible into the new Koha namespace (and not in C4).
    - [khall] All methods should take a single argument, bit it an object, an id, or a hashref. This makes future modification of parameters for subroutines far simpler and less error prone, and reduces the changes needed.
  - [khall] I think we need something about limiting the use of the html filter to prevent XSS attacks (post Bug 13618)
    - [Joubu] New test added to the QA script, is it enough?
- Reword/update coding guidelines
  - [khall] Update JS4 based on the availability of the format method (from Bug 15662)
  - [kfischer] 'PERL7: Definitions' - point to Terminology instead and note that terminology in the code should follow the default en GUI terminology?
    - [marcelr] Code changes should adhere to naming conventions published elsewhere on the wiki (Patron versus Borrower, etc.)
  - [khall] Modules in the Koha namespace should be Object Oriented
    - [kfischer] For reference: Namespace QA Rules: 'use Object Oriented (OO) style everywhere it makes sense'
      Coding Guidelines: 'PERL15: Object-oriented code and the Koha:: namespace Whenever it makes sense, code added to the Koha:: namespace should be object-oriented. However, code that is naturally procedural should not be shoehorned into the OO style.'
- Remove/obsolete/archive coding guidelines
  - [kfischer] 'HTML5: Deprecation of the 'prog' and 'CCSR' OPAC themes.' Templats are long gone.
  - [kfischer] 'PERL18: The use of C4::Dates module is deprecated.' All related code has been removed with Bug 14870
  - [kfischer] 'PERL19: The use of C4::SQLHelper module is deprecated.' All related code has been removed with Bug 11385
  - [kfischer] 'PERL11: No CVS - Development has moved from CVS to git. Therefore the use of CVS keywords $Id$ and $Revision$ should be discontinued.' Is this rule still needed?
  - [kfischer] 'PERL12: VERSION [Deprecated as of start of 3.12 release cycle] Each module should have a $VERSION variable to preserve progressive levels of compatibility with dependent code.' A bit confusing - should remaining VERSION variables be removed?
- Revamp/restructure coding guidelines page
  - [khall] I would like to revamp our guidelines page in the manner of https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/best-practices/coding-standards/ I can start a new page for this which can be voted on at a later date if everyone approves of the idea.
  - [kfischer] Divide coding guidelines into separate pages, for example: frontend, backend, database, and/or by language
- Please add your suggestions here..
Any bugs that are in discussion
- [marcelr] Bug 14757 [Allow the use of Template Toolkit syntax for slips and notices] This needs at least some discussion and thought about the implications for existing notices at upgrade time and needed user skills. Can we convert notices properly? Can we prevent making it more complex for users?
- [kfischer] Bug 14610 - Add ability to place article requests in Koha: There is some discussion on this bug on how to structure the code for CRUD operations.
- Please add links to bugs and comments here...
General development discussion (Trends, ideas, ...)
- [Joubu] Merge borrowers and deletedborrowers tables
- [Joubu] Get rid of item-level_itype
- [kfischer] Performance issues: Benchmark for 3.22, Bug 15242
- Please add your ideas here...
Updates from the QA team
- List of blockers and critical bugs

Set time of next meeting

Apologies

Chris C (4am Sunday morning nz time)

Minutes

Please note: there was a problem with the meeting bot resulting in some problems with the minutes. Some notes at the end are missing and the meeting could only be officially ended long after it actually ended. Please refer to http://irc.koha-community.org/koha/2016-02-02 for complete logs.

Next meeting

Development IRC meeting 16 February 2016 at 19 UTC