JourFixe-2019-02-25

Date and place

Monday, February 25, 2019 from 13:00 – 18:15 at ILIAS-Verein office in Köln

Participants

At ILIAS office:

• Kunkel, Matthias [mkunkel] (Minutes), Seeland, Per Pascal [PerPascalSeeland], Zenzen, Enrico [ezenzen], Meyer, Stefan [smeyer], Klees, Richard [rklees] (Chat Moderation), Wessels, Karin [karin.wessels], Famula, Thomas [tfamula], Jansen, Michael [mjansen]

•  Samoila, Oliver [oliver.samoila], Schmid, Fabian [fschmid], Kozianka, Carsten [ckozianka], Killing, Alexander [alex], Kohnle, Uwe [ukohnle], Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt], Lorenz, Katharina [klorenz], Heer, Raphael [rheer], Studer, Martin [mstuder],

If you like to participate at the Jour Fixe via Skype, please join our Skype meeting! (Achtung: geändert URL)

1 Appointments

• 06 MAR 2019, 13:00 - 15:00: Workshop 'Global Starting Point for Course Registration' in Skype

If you want to participate at one of the above mentioned workshops, please register for the related session. This helps to organise the workshop. Thanks!

2 Maintained Versions

2.1 Roadmap

Last releases:

• ILIAS 5.4.0_beta1 published at October 31, 2018
• ILIAS 5.3.13 published at February 14, 2019
• ILIAS 5.2.22 published at February 14, 2019

• ILIAS 5.4.0 scheduled for March 13, 2019
• ILIAS 5.3.14 scheduled for March 2019
• ILIAS 5.2.23 scheduled for April 2019

2.2 Mantis Bug Reports

All open issues reported or modified since the last Jour Fixe were screened by the product manager before the Jour Fixe and assigned to the responsible developers if necessary. The following issues were discussed in detail:

1. #20785: Unerwünschte Schnellverknüpfungen auf dem Schreibtisch vom Übungsobjekt: We do not consider this being a bug. Up to now there has never been a requirement for a different behaviour between learner and tutor concerning adding an exercise to the desktop or not. We are open to discuss this as part of a feature request. But this would be a change for 6.0.
2. #24472: Failed test: HTML-Lernmodul kopieren : We prefer a general solution for this issue without a couple of exceptions for different components. Therefore, we decided to postpone the guideline for Creation of Repository Objects (https://docu.ilias.de/goto_docu_wiki_wpage_5035_1357.html) from 5.4 to 6.0. A feature request (and probably a related workshop) for a general solution (DIC) would be highly appreciated!
3. #24603: External link behind mediaobject to short: We would like to increase the number of accepted characters for URLs from 200 to 800 characters.
4. #24902: Who is online tool does not show online status for Shibboleth Auth: We highly appreciate this suggestion and accept it as a bugfix.
5. #24946: Präfix im Mailbetreff nicht entfernbar : We accept the removal of the mail prefix to support mails without a prefix in the subject. But new installations should always be delivered with "[ILIAS]" in the "Mail Subject" row. Additionally, we would like to extend the byline to recommend the usage of a prefix for supporting message filtering by users.

• …

2.3 Bugfixing Statistic

Bug reports[1] set to status 'open' and not been touched by responsible maintainer for more than 21 days (checked this morning) as well as bug reports with priorisation voting:

* New votes: bugs priorised within the last 14 days   ** Old votes: priorised bugs before last JF (older then 14 days)   *** Resolved: Resolved or closed bug reports in the last 14 days

Bug reports with status 'Fixing according to priorisation' should be fixed before other bugs are tackled. Priorised bugs very important for one or more institutional members of the ILIAS society. Handling this reports with low priority contradicts the intention of the established bug fixing process.

2.4 Open Pull Requests to Discuss

The following pull requests in the ILIAS GitHub repository were marked with 'Jour Fixe' this morning:

• PR1547 • #24902: Who is online tool does not show online status for Shibboleth Auth: PR highly appreciated and accepted, see related Mantis bug report. Please merge.

• none

2.5 Continuous Integration

Overview on current status and reports from CI-server at http://ci.ilias.de:

• automated tests: 3623 (+26) passing unit tests on PHP 7.0, PHP 7.1 since JF 2019-02-04
  • The failing tests from last JF where fixed in the meantime but also caused confusion. Should we look for ways that make it impossible to commit with broken tests? Should we ping developers more aggressively when they introduced missing tests?
  • Please have a look into the skipped and incomplete tests in: Workflow Engine, Test and Assessment
  • Feel free to contact Klees, Richard [rklees] for support!
• results of dicto architectural tests
  • 28 (net) added violations since JF 2019-02-11
    • Duplication of error-suppressor-violations and exit-or-die-violations due to duplication of ilGlobalTemplate in a refactoring attempt.
• Please run unit tests locally before committing.

Travis CI for ILIAS:

• https://travis-ci.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/builds
• more to come...

Performance monitoring:

• Pascal updated his test installation to PHP 7.2. Performance tests of trunk are currently not running, esp. the repository. PHP 7.2-related bugs need to be fixed first before continuing performance testing.

3 Publishing 5.4

106 features have been implemented for ILIAS release 5.4, see Release 5.4. They now will be tested together with the existing features of ILIAS 5.4.

A 5.4 release branch has been created at November 19, 2018. Trunk is now set to 6.0 alpha.

3.1 Release Cycle for Version 5.4

In accordance with the Technical Board the product manager decided to set the documentation of implementation of a feature as another requirement to get an implemented feature into trunk. This information helps testers to understand the feature they have to test and improves the understanding of the feature for users. This requirement is effective from ILIAS version 5.4. Similar to test cases and approval, the documentation of implementation on the feature wiki page needs to be completed until October 29, 2018 for version 5.4.

3.2 Development Issues in 5.4

1. Schmid, Fabian [fschmid]: Wrong commit in UI service due to misunderstanding / carelessness: After my absence in January, I had a lot of Mantis tickets to the new GlobalScreen service and MainMenu that were created in the meantime. Many of these tickets were already fixed internally by my colleagues (mostly bseglias) on an internal branch, so after my return I could simply check this internal branch against the tickets and could close many tickets. Before the acceptance I merged the release_5-4 branch into the internal branch.
   
   One ticket complained that the individual item types (radio option) had no description: https://mantis.ilias.de/view.php?id=24065. I had this discussion between bseglias and rklees from December still in mind, by merging release_5-4 I thought this was fixed now and didn't notice that the change to the UI service came from besglias and didn't have the JF approval via PR. Since I wanted to fix all bugs in trunk (by a squashed commit), I missed the mentioned adjustment in the UI service, but since I assumed that it was in release_5-4, I also introduced it in trunk.
   
   After consultation with rklees I report this failure here as Development Issue. The change to the interface can be seen here: https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/commit/e7af067515787c7007698309de8ec2807d2c87e4 also fixed the unit tests today. But if you want to undo the change, I will do it immediately.Thank you for understanding and apologizing for the mistake.

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: We accept this change in a public interface for 5.4 and trunk.

2. Heer, Raphael [rheer]:  Strange behavior with Microsofts WebDAV Clients: During the testing of 5.4, Stephan Winiker encountered a strange bug with WebDAV and the File Explorer from Microsoft. As we found out, Windows has 2 WebDAV Clients: "WebClt" and "Microsoft MiniRedirector". There is also a service running on Windows, called "WebClient" which will automaticly be started under some circumstances. If the service is not running (e.g. after a reboot) and you try to add a new WebDAV connection, Windows uses "WebClt" and sends an "OPTIONS /" request to the server. If it receives a "401 Unauthorized", Windows will start the "WebClient" Service and let the "Microsoft MiniRedirector" handle the request and everything is ok. But if the server returns something else, e.g. "405 Method" not allowed, you will get the Message "0x80070043 The Network Name Cannot Be Found". Other services that provide a WebDAV interface encouter the same problem. For example owncloud: https://github.com/owncloud/core/issues/26350. This seems actually to be an error from microsoft and not WebDAV or ILIAS. A possible fix could be a a rewrite-rule in the .htaccess file in the root of the server (not ILIAS) like:

   RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^(DavClnt)$RewriteRule .* "-" [R=401,L]

   Since ILIAS is not always in the webroot, this fix cannot be added to git but only to the instructions for the webadmins. The questions is, if this is desired or not.

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: We highly appreciate this suggestion. Please extend the installation instruction accordingly and create a pull request against trunk and 5.4. And please add a short notice to the WebDAV administration in ILIAS that notifies admins about the related information in the INSTALL.

3. Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt]: Automatic Randomised Formation of Teams » https://docu.ilias.de/goto_docu_wiki_wpage_4804_1357.html

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: We accept the mix of the both features Automatic Randomised Formation of Teams and Assignment Type Wiki for 5.4. The feature request Automatic Randomised Formation of Teams. Assignment type wiki. is therefore redundant.

4. Kunkel, Matthias [mkunkel]: Tile view: Suggestion for default image for Set Containers to Deck of Card Listing and status of supported components for Uploading Images for Presenting Objects in Deck of Cards (Tile View).

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: We discussed the different options for the tile background and decided to

   • use images per object type to define the background of a tile. Alexander will check if it is possible to include less information into svg images to re-use the defined colour scheme of the ILIAS system style. Otherwise, he will use 1 pixel PNGs.
   • This solution will handle all plugin objects as one type.
   • This solution allows to substitute the default images by customised ones in the system skin.
   Concering image upload: We accept the support of the image upload for all components that are using the legacyForm until publishing the stable release 5.4.0. All other components, incl. those supporting the newer form UI, have to be adapted for 6.0. This needs a feature request. Additionally, the new object guideline needs to be updated.

3.3 Status of Testing

• Test installation for ILIAS 5.4 is available at test54.ilias.de.
• Testing has started at November 02, 2018 and ended officially at  January 31, 2019.
• Bugfixing should be finished at March 11, 2019
• Status of test cases compared to last Jour Fixe:
  • Passed: 3667 (93%) → 3717 (94%) ⇒ +50
  • Blocked: 68 (2%) → 27 (1%) ⇒ –41
  • Retest: 19 (0%) → 35 (1%) ⇒ +16
  • Failed:189 (5%) → 163 (4%) ⇒ –26

4 Developing ILIAS 6.0

4.1 Developing Issues in 6.0

• none

4.2 Feature Requests for ILIAS 6.0

The following suggestions were made for ILIAS version 6.0 which should be published in March 2020.

1. Not-Appointed Task «Forum Post Draft» : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule it for 6.0.

2. Not-Appointed Task «Blog Post Draft» : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for 6.0. Postings that have been withdrawn should not be listed as tasks. Only the person that created a (draft) posting should get the task to publish the posting. Please create a separate feature request for "Task to Approve Posting".

3. Study Programme: Multilingualism : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for 6.0.

4. Study programme: Validity of qualification : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for 6.0 under the following conditions:

   • The input for the expiry period is currently a day input (e.g. 365 days). If a new KS element has been accepted that supports the time input of weeks or month, this UI element can be reused for this feature as well.
   • The option "Restart obligatory x days before expiry" shall be a sub-option of "Qualification expires individually" only. If the expiry date of the "fixed date" option is changed, a confirmation screen shall be presented where an admin decides if all assigned participants need to re-certify or not.
   • Please clarify in the byline when these validity settings are used for a user. If we understand it correctly, these dates are used when a user is booked on a study programme. Changes of these dates have no effect on already assigned participants.

5. Study Programme: Processing time : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule it for 6.0 under the following conditions:

   • Please re-label "Expiry date" for processing time to "Deadline" (already introduced to SP).
   • Please show an error message when the "Deadline" date is after the "Expiry Date" of the qualification period (in case of "fixed date").
   • We keep the discussion open about the label "Processing Time". Every alternative suggestion is highly appreciated as added posting here.

6. Study Programme: Certificate : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule it for 6.0. Please contact Michael Jansen in case you need an additional event to trigger the certification service.

7. Competence profiles can be assigned to Roles : We highly appreciate this suggestion but need some modifications before scheduling this feature:

   • Please use the workflow for "Sharing" ressources in the Personal Workspace to assign cometence profiles to roles. This will include all members - even those who are added to the role after the assignment has been made (unlike the screens shown above).
   • Please consider if the assignment of competence profiles should also be allowed in the (local) role management or if should only be restricted to the competence management.

   POstponed due to missing time

8. Migrate News on Communication » News to Timeline :

   • Feature request presented by Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt]
   • Length of slot: 15'

9. Navigational Slates «Favourites» and «Tags» :

   • Feature request presented by Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt]
   • Length of slot: 15'

10. Competence profiles can be assigned to OrgUnits :

    • Feature request presented by Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt]
    • Length of slot: 15'

11. Course and Group Information « Target Group » :

    • Feature request presented by Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt]
    • Length of slot: 15'

5 Miscellaneous

Next Jour Fixe dates

• Monday, March 11, 13:00 - 18:00
• Monday, March 25, 13:00 - 18:00

Layout Revision 6.0 working group

Virtual Meeting every Friday, 11:00 - 12:00

• Weekly Meeting that deals with the project management of the General Layout and Menu Revision. Due to the complexity of the project, we coordinate the next steps and define responsibilities. If you want to stay in contact and get information about the project, feel free to join the Working Group and attend our VC.