JourFixe-2020-02-17

Date and place

Monday, February 17, 2020 from 13:00 – 18:00 at the office of ILIAS-Verein and as VC meeting

If you like to participate at the Jour Fixe, please join our DFN VC meeting! Due to technical problems, Skype is no longer used for our VC!

1 Appointments

• none

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 6.0_beta1 published at December 09, 2019
• ILIAS 5.4.9 published at January 24, 2020
• ILIAS 5.3.19 published at February 07, 2020

• ILIAS 6.0 scheduled for April 15, 2020
• ILIAS 5.4.10 scheduled for March 2020
• ILIAS 5.3.20 scheduled for March 2020

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. #26287: Accessibility improvements: We agree with the suggestion to include the suggested changes from 'simple' into delos in 5.4 as bug fix. To offer the additional changes from the 'Significant' less file, we would like to offer a new accessibility less file that can easily be activated to make these improvement available in delos, too. For ILIAS 6 we would like to have all accessibilty improvements in default delos and no additional style any more. We recommend not to wait too long with the merge of these improvements to identify side-effects before publishing the stable release. Important: all changes of less variables that effect existing UI components should be made in the KS elements for sustainability reasons. Related rules should be added there, too.
2. #26823: Dashboard (PLR) vs Dashboard (T&A): We prefer the label "Manage Participants" for the Dashboard in the T&A. Matthias will check if he just can make the changes in the lang file to solve this issue.
3. #27072: Position auf der Seite geht beim Browser-Back verloren.: Behaviour cannot be reproduced on all browsers. Known behaviour from 5.4 exists on 6 as well with Firefox. Seems to be a browser-dependent issue. We keep the report open. Any idea for solving this problem is highly appreciated.
4. #27106: Logo Not Linked: Nils takes care of problem and adds link to logo.
5. #27177: Reihenfolge der Adminknoten in der Knotengruppierung „Magazin und Objekte“: We suggest to adapt the sorting from Administration » Repository » "Objekttypen im Magazin". Advantages would be: this is a known sorting from 'Add New Item' and it is language independent - unlike an alphabetical sorting.
6. #27524: Deep scrolls not possible on older iPad mini: This is a iOS problem we cannot solve. It might be an option to add an info to notify users that they use an outdated, no longer supported OS version. But this UI component still needs to be developed (ideas already communicated by Fabian Schmid). We collect these issues. But we cannot offer a solution at the moment.
7. #27545: reinstantiate usage of lang var 'pwassist_invalid_auth_mode': With this suggestion we would roll-back a security fix which we don't want. Therefore, we close this bug. Suggestion for those who use external authentications: adapt the text of the passwd message to this use case.
8. #27633: Textfelder bei Zuordnungsfrage lassen nur 200 Zeichen zu / text input fields for matching questions takes max. 200 characters: We see the problem and suggest to increase the number of allowed characters in the text input of matching questions to 600.
9. #27679: unerwartete Effekte bei Rechtevergabe':As known from 'Manage Members' or 'Edit Learning Progress Settings' we would like to have distinct permissions for 'Edit Settings', 'Test Results' and 'Statistics'. A user with 'Edit Settings' only should no longer have access to the test results or to the statistics. @ Björn: can you fix this accordingly (and provide a hotfix as well - in case this has not been done yet)?
   

1. #27273: Content springt nach oben, wenn mit dem Cursor über einen Link gegangen wird (Safari):

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:

1. PR2451 • UI: expand usage of notification glyph (#26639): We highly appreciate this suggestion and accept it for trunk. An alternative pattern to mark deactivated services represented by glyphs could be 'strike-through'.
2. PR2483 • Move composer to main directory: We highly appreciate this PR and accept it for trunk as well as for ILIAS 6.
3. PR2494 • Extended Maintainer Documentation: We highly appreciate this suggestion and accept the textual modification for all branches.
4. https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/pull/2445 (ILIAS Offline Concept/Roadmap) : We highly appreciate this suggestion and ask all developers to read this document carefully and add comments to this page in case of different opinions. We want to make a final decision about this document as roadmap for the further implementation of an offline concept at the next JF at March 09, 2020.
5. https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/pull/2457 (JS Style Guide, Announcenment): We highly appreciate the suggested guideline suggestion and ask all developers to read this document carefully and add comments to this page in case of different opinions. We want to make a final decision about this document in the next Jour Fixe at March 09, 2020.

• none

2.5 Continuous Integration

Overview on current status and reports from CI-server at http://ci.ilias.de and https://travis-ci.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/builds:

• Dashboard: https://ilias-elearning.github.io/CI-Results
• automated tests: 4701 (+49) passing unit tests on PHP 7.2, PHP 7.3 and PHP 7.4 since JF 2019-02-03
• results of dicto architectural tests
  • 30 (net) violations removed since 2020-02-03
• PSR 2 (+X)
  • violations in 263 classes (+14 classes)
• Please run unit tests locally and apply the style fixer before committing.
• Next meeting of CI-Group will be announced. Please contact richard.klees@concepts-and-training.de if you like to join.
  • If you know anyone who is somewhere between developer, administrator and hacker, maybe knows bash and likes to play with obscure tools on the internet: softly nudge her or him to join the group. We need (wo)man-power to make our developers more effective by automating stuff for them!

2.6 Performance monitoring:

• Everything is fine. No changes since December.

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3 Publishing ILIAS 6

3.1 Status of Testing

The official test installation for ILIAS version 6 is at https://test6.ilias.de.
 
All test suites to test ILIAS 6 are available in our Testrail installation. Please contact our test manager Kruse, Fabian [Fabian] if you want to join our testing team.
 
Testing of ILIAS 6 has started at 09 DEC 2019. All test cases have to be executed once until 28 FEB 2020. Retesting and bugfixing has to be completed at 08 APR 2020 at the latest.

3.2 Development Issues

Development issues and topics related to ILIAS versions 6

1. none

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]:

4 Developing ILIAS 7

4.1 Presenting Large Developments for 7

Initiated by the SIG Client, the Technical Board decided to organise a yearly development planning meeting for the ILIAS version to be developed in the future months. All community members were invited to add their suggestions for 'Large Developments for ILIAS' in the linked data collection. The following suggestions were made:

1. Introduce more objects in kiosk-mode of learning sequence

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Priority of implementation: ILIAS LM (in progress) and Test with prio 1, Survey with prio 2, rest prio 3. Has a certain influence on page layout revision part 2. Risk not too high because stepwise implementation (per component) is possible. Main risk and bottleneck is T&A.

2. Move UI-Framwork to SASS with ITCSS-based Model

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Implementation in steps possible, some components might be moved with 8. Main risk are components that heavily rely on Bootstrap elements.

3. UI-Kitchensink for T&A Questions

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Implementation of KS elements independent from T&A maintainer. Completing concept should go on. New KS elements can already be ordered. Progress in little steps possible. Integration in questions has to be done by Question Service maintainer. Main bottleneck are ressources to discuss KS elements. Therfore, probably a project for 8. Also dependent from offline concept for ILIAS and from offline support for test questions (see G). Requires completion of 'splitting-up T&A', too.

4. Competence Management

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Low risk due to separation of project in several work packages. Partly refactoring of competence services allows to hand over implementation to other developer(s).

5. Page Editor Revision

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Major parts of Page Editor Revision should be realised for 7, other parts could follow with 8. An interative procedure is possible. Separation in workpackages already exists, see crowdfunding page. Important: ILIAS 7 should already show a significant improvement to keep acceptance high. Common agreement about top priority of this project for ILIAS 7!

6. FileServices: Centralized (File-)Storage

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Implementation requires a hugh migration of data because all files need to be moved to new structure / storage process. New Setup for 6 might help here. Almost all components are tackled. But switch to new concept is possible per component. Feature would be an important improvement in security.

7. Page Layout Revision Part 2

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Small project compared to PLR1. Main goal is to solve existing issues of PLR1 and to solve already existing usability bugs from former ILIAS versions. No 'make or break' like PLR1, but iterative procedure with small packages that do not require to big changes and implementations.

8. Offline-Support for Test Questions

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Dependent from offline concept and Kitchen Sink for test questions. Probably an ILIAS 8 project. But work on concepts should be forced now to be well prepared for ILIAS 8.

9. Setup Revision

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]: Next step for a complete setup revision. Need for coordination with other maintainers but not a lot of workload for them (implemented by Richard). Important changes are related to database update steps and plugins. There will be a 'point of no return'. Collaboration also with Fabian Schmid's 'Centralized File Storage'

4.1.1 Feedback of the Technical Board

The Technical Board (TB) analyzed the proposed projects according to the current Strategy (see: https://docu.ilias.de/goto_docu_file_8005_download.html). To foster transparancy for the way the TB  assigns ressources (funding as well as time investements for participating in discussions, giving reviews etc) and consults the PM when he takes decisions (e.g. to assign slots at conferences or the JF) we would like to provide the following public feedback. Each project will be linked to the part of our strategy that it has a positive impact on. The five sections are Community Driven (1), Reliable Learning Management (2), Usable for Everyone (3), Learning Everywhere Anytime (4), Adaptable Learning Environment (5).

Important: if we do not assign special priority to some project, that does by no means indicate, that we do not consider this project as part of the development of the upcoming ILIAS release. Every developer and community member may and is asked to assign ressources and push projects they see as valuable. Thus the following represents only the view of the TB.

Setup Revision
The TB believes this project to have a positive impact on the realibility of the ILIAS software (2).
The TB sees some risk in the communication and collaboration of the various developers involved. We therefore recommend to communicate a roadmap, stating the expected changes, the approximate timeframe, as well as the expected workload for involved developers (e.g. for reviewing PRs) soon. Other than that we believe this project to be of rather low risk. We see a dependency to the Centralized File-Storage Project, though, and asks the involved developers to coordinate as early as possible to take advantage of possible synergies.
Overall the TB assigns a high priority to this project.

Centralized (File-)Storage
The TB believes this project to have a very high positive impact on the realibility, especiality the security aspect of the ILIAS software (2).
Since the project can be tackled in multiple iterations, addressing components and services one by one, there is low risk regarding collaboration among involved developers. We see a high risk in a possible negative impact on the performance of ILIAS, especially for systems with a large amount of concurrent users and a a lot of files. Some performance testing at an early point in the development would be very much appreciated. We also see a huge risk in the update of systems with a lot of files to this service. This will be hard to test, though. However, some estimation of expected migration times would be helpful prior to the merge since this process could easily take days on big installations. Due to the high complexity of the task and the mentioned risks, we see a further issue in collecting the necessary funding.
Overall the TB assigns a high priority to this project and hopes that the funding can be secured to get it off the ground.

Page Editor Revision
The TB believes this project to have a very high positive impact on the usability of the ILIAS software (3) and we also believe this project to strengthen the community, since the refresh of the page editor is a project popping up in discussions for years now (1).
Since the project can only partially be tackled in iterative steps and the changes are rather large and involve the sometimes controversial area of UI/UX design we see a rather high risk in getting all the necessary conceptual question off the ground. We also see a possible issue in ensuring the necessary funding. Further we see some relations to the Offline-Support project listed below. We encourage the involved developers to collaborate as much as possible.
The TB regards a revised Page Editor as an absolute key asset for the further envolvement of ILIAS and thus sees this project as a a central milestone for ILIAS 7 with highest priority.

Page Layout Revision Part 2
The TB believes this project to have a high positive impact on the usability of the ILIAS software (3).
Since the project can be tackled iteratively in chunks of variable size, the TB sees very low risk.
The TB regards this project as neccessary next step in the development of ILIAS due to open issues left over from the first part of the PLR. We see this as high priority project.

Move UI-Framwork to SASS with ITCSS-based Model
The TB believes this project to have a highpositive impact on the adaptability (5) and some impact on the usability (3) of the ILIAS software. We also believe this project to strengthen the community (1) as the maintainance of the less/css code in it's current state is in question for the next releases.
This project is currently underspecified. It is lacking a clear roadmap and strategy on how to migrate/deal with existing legacy CSS code. It has the potential of being of very high risk, since it involves many developers and rather a large amount of code. Thus we would encourage finding a way to tackle it iteratively and wherever possible reduce its risk.
The TB sees this project as neccessary next step due to the open issues left over from the first part of the PLR and thus highly welcomes any progress, as long as the risk and side effects on other developments remain manageable. We see this as a possible key project for ILIAS 8.

Introduce more objects in kiosk-mode of learning sequence
The TB believes this project to be of value for various learning scenarios.
The TB believes the risk of this project to be low, since it can be tackled iteratively. Note that there is a depencency on the Test & Assessment (T&A) in parts of the projects. We believe those parts have a very low probability of being completed, since the project to split up the T&A needs to be finished before any further developments become feasible.
The TB would very much like to see this project take off, but does not set special priority to it.

Competence Management
The TB believes this project to be of value for various learning scenarios.
The TB believes the risk of this project to be low, since it can be tackled iteratively.
The TB would very much like to see this project take off, but does not set special priority to it.

UI-Kitchensink for T&A Questions
The TB believes this project to have some positive impact on the usability of parts of the ILIAS software (3).
The TB believes the probability of completing this project to be very low as the project to split up the T&A needs to be finished before any further developments become feasible. The completion of the splitting is a hard requirement for an integration of this project into the ILIAS core.
The TB would very much like to see progress in this project, but does not set special priority to it. The splitting up of the T&A remains a key project with highest priority, though.

Offline-Support for Test Questions
The TB believes this project to have a high positive impact on the learning anywhere anytime aspect (4) and the usability of parts (3) of the ILIAS software.
The TB believes the probability of completing this project to be very low as the project to split up the T&A needs to be finished before any further developments become feasible. The completion of the splitting is a hard requirement for an integration of this project into the ILIAS core. Additionally we believe this project to have a very high complexity and therefore suggest to tackle the underlying problems in multiple iterations beginning with addressing the underlying client side issues ILIAS is currently hampered by. We further believe that some of these problems also need to be solved for the Page Editor Revision listed above. Thus we encourage the involved developers to collaborate as much as possible.
The TB would very much like to see progress in this project, but does not set special priority to it. The TB does set a very high priority on the necessary client side ground work needed for this project and the splitting up of the T&A, though.

4.2 Development Issues

Development issues and topics related to ILIAS versions 7

1. none

   JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe]:

4.3 Suggested Features

Postponed to next Jour Fixe

1. Page Editor » Presentation of Item Groups in Page Editor :

   • Feature suggested by Kergomard, Stephan [skergomard]
   • Length of slot: 30'

2. Improve Usability of  Export of and Access to Personal Data :

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

3. Abandon support for MyISAM engine and MySQL fulltext search :

   • Feature suggested by Jansen, Michael [mjansen]
   • Length of slot: 15'

4. Blog Improvements: Authors, Inputfield, Cleanup :

   • Feature suggested by Samoila, Oliver [oliver.samoila]
   • Length of slot: 15'

5. Reading Time for Content Pages :

   • Feature suggested by Samoila, Oliver [oliver.samoila]
   • Length of slot: 15'

5 Miscellaneous

Feature Wiki Page Structure

We would like to extend the existing structure of the feature wiki page to especially address security issues. The following chapter "Security Implications" shall be added to all new feature requests:

Security Implications

Does the feature include any special security relevant changes, e.g. the introducion of new endpoints or other new possible attack vectors. If yes, please explain these implications and include a commitment to deliver a written security concept as part of the feature development. This concept will need an additional approvement by the JourFixe.

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe] : We highly appreciate this suggestion. Page template for new requests will be adapted accordingly. All feature requests for ILIAS 7 that have not been scheduled yet should also get this chapter.

Additional Mantis Categories

On behalf of the Technical Board, Alexander Killing has analysed the ILIAS code for a better mapping of code components, maintainerships and Mantis categories. He found out that around 30 components (esp. services) are not represented in Mantis. Therefore, we added these new categories to Mantis and assigned them to the responsible maintainer. In addition, we moved several categories that are more relevant for developers to the bottom of the list to make reporting easier for users. These categories have a ¥ as a prefix.

Observation Regarding Heckling IN VCs

Klees, Richard [rklees] I observed that some culture of interjection in VCs via chat has emerged. People are using the chat to disagree, have side discussions or add more information, with more or less pronounced words. I'm definitely guilty of that behaviour myself. Since mostly our meetings via VC are held in way that a moderator gives the floor to someone, this interjection via chat to me feels just the same as heckling in f2f-meetings, which for some very good reasons is understood to be rude. While some presenters are not affected by that heckling, be it in f2f or VC meetings, some others get distracted, even by well-meaning comments. I do not consider the usage of "+1" or supporting emojis to be such heckling, though. These to me seems to be closer to the facial expressions presenters could see in f2f meetings. However, the line between these and real heckling is rather thin. I consider use of "-1" or disagreeing emojis to be some kind of heckling, because disagreement would usually call for a "meld" to verbalize the disagreement and the current presenter has no way of knowing what the cause for the disagreement is. I do not call for any new rule or such, but rather want to shed light on that problem and ask anyone to be reasonable and kind persons and leave room for other people to express their views undistracted. Thx!

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe] : We fully support Richard and ask all community members to reduce their heckling in VCs. In case someone wants to add a comment, express an opposite opinion or add additional information, please just add a 'Meld' to the chat.

Next Jour Fixe dates

• Monday, March 09, 13:00 - 18:00 (changed date!)
• Monday, March 16, 13:00 - 18:00
• Monday, March 30, 13:00 - 18:00