[software] Donor.com software review

[Jim Brandt]

I can attempt an install when we get to that point.

I know this is probably getting ahead of things, but what platforms do 
they expect to be able to support?

Jim

Josh Berkus wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> Donor.com called me to review their source code.  I have access to their
> CVS now; if someone else wants access (please!) contact me and I'll
> arrange it.
> 
> Overall, DonorWare seems to be what you'd expect in a relatively clean
> 15-year-old mature application.  They have an elaborate set of C
> binaries comprising a few hundred files, and on top of that support an
> extensive set of Perl libraries which comprise the user interface.
> 
> Currently, interaction between the Perl code and the C code is the
> brute-force approach of executing shell commands and parsing the output.
>     Conversion to .so is on their roadmap, but hasn't started yet.
> 
> All business logic and storage is in the C libraries; presentation and
> user interaction in Perl.
> 
> The Perl code is reasonably well structured and documented from what I
> could see and relies extensively on POE.  They could use some additional
> POD code documentation (existing pretty much only covers parameters) but
> the code is in considerably more approachable shape than most internal
> software I've seen.
> 
> The C code, unfortunately, shows its age more; most binaries are named
> thinks like "DD0100", and purpose can only be ascertained by reading the
> file headers.  On the upside, the maintainer have included extensive
> file headers and comments.  Overall, I'd guess that the C code would
> require a few weeks of study to really understand it, but that such
> could be done without active guidance.
> 
> Next steps are to attempt to build & install DonorWare myself.  I'd like
> to see a few other people do this as well.
> 
> Regarding other stuff, the move towards OSS proceeds apace; Mike expects
> their board to make a final decision in favor on December 18th. Getting
> an accounting module up and running is more dependant on MichaelDexter's
> efforts towards finding funding for the open-sourcing; if funded, Mike
> claims that they could modernize and deploy the accounting module within
> 5 months.
> 
> --Josh Berkus
> 
> 
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-- 
Jim Brandt
The Perl Foundation
email: cbrandt at perlfoundation.org