[OpenWalnut] OpenWalnut in NeuroDebian

[Sebastian Eichelbaum]

Hi List

We got it. OpenWalnut 1.2.5 is now available in NeuroDebian (neuro.debian.net). Also have a look at http://www.openwalnut.org/projects/openwalnut/wiki/Getting_OpenWalnut#Debian-and-Ubuntu on how to install these packages on your system. 

It took quite some time to get OpenWalnut and our infrastructure ready for this, but it was worth the effort. This way, we have a new distribution channel, where we can reach a major part of the Neuroscience community (according to http://www.frontiersin.org/Neuroinformatics/10.3389/fninf.2011.00008/full). It also forced us to clean-up our source and project structure to be more "friendly" to external users. We now comply to a strict software release policy (the one of the Debian project ;-)), ensuring a high quality in the released software. It does, of course, not necessarily mean we are bug-free and "done" now. It just ensures we have a clean and structured software project, respecting all licences of external code and resources. It also ensures that we comply to the software structure common to most Unix and that we integrate seamlessly and properly with Desktop systems, which is, from the user's standpoint, a major issue. 

Our next step is to create RPM packages and a pre-compiled Windows binary. An MacOSX bundle is also planned but not yet done. Please stay tuned. We are aware about the advantages of binary packages for all major systems. We are working on it, but often get in trouble with platform specific problems and exorbitant complexity of some system's packaging facilities. 

Bye
Sebastian

-- 
Dipl.-Inf. Sebastian Eichelbaum
Universität Leipzig
Institut für Informatik
Abteilung Bild- und Signalverarbeitung
PF 100920
D-04009 Leipzig