[Kde-pim] Akonadi architectural knowledge

[Volker Krause]

On Friday 05 October 2012 11:06:59 Andras Mantia wrote:
>  I wanted to write an answer, just didn't have time so far.

thanks Andras, same here

> Morten Larsen wrote:
> > Documentation on the rationales behind the architectural decisions and
> > any alternatives considered are a lot harder to find. Reading through
> > the meeting notes of some of the PIM meetings (esp. Osnabrück 4) you can
> > find some information, including original ides and requirements.
> > 
> > Now for my questions:
> > 
> > a) Is there anything I have missed? E.g. where would I look for
> > information if I wanted to interface to the Akonadi server but not use
> > the client library?
> 
> hm, indeed this is not on the website. It is in the source tree though:
> https://projects.kde.org/projects/kdesupport/akonadi/repository/revisions/ma
> ster/changes/server/AkonadiServerProtocol.txt
> 
> We should "doxygenize" it.
> 
> > b) Is there a notion that someone(s) have an "architect" role in the
> > Akonadi development team?
> 
> If there is, that would be Volker. He was the main man behind the Akonadi
> idea. But see below.
> 
> > c) When and how are architectural decisions made? In the meetings? In
> > mailing list discussions? Other?
> 
>  AFAIK, the idea to have a central way to access and cache pim data was
> raised in one of the PIM meetings. There are usually two PIM
> meetings/sprints in a year, traditionally so far one in the beginning of the
> year and one in autumn. Plus extra meetings/sprints at the big conferences,
> like aKademy.
>  Then it evolved slowly into what is now, firstly afaik was almost a one man
> project (Volker's), while others did some parts later. 

While I might have been the one with most spare time back then to implement 
it, the basic architecture was actually discussed at the "Osnabrück 4" meeting 
(http://community.kde.org/KDE_PIM/Meetings/Osnabrueck_4), by a much larger 
team. And the basic idea even predates that, roots can be traced back to 
discussions Till had at FOSS.IN in 2005 IIRC and a "PIM daemon" concept by 
Tobias from around a similar time.

Subsequent larger changes/additions to that concept were mainly 
discussed/designed during meetings as well, but there weren't that many of 
those I think, most were on a much smaller scale and match the example Andras 
described.

> Discussions can
> happen in various ways. This mailing list, IRC, in-face discussions at the
> meetings. As part of the Akonadi and porting of the pim apps to Akonadi was
> done as a commercial project by KDAB and Intevation, some discussions
> naturally happened withing inter-company channels (phone, chat). As most of
> the PIM developers work for these companies, this was not really different
> from talking on freenode IRC, it was just sometimes easier to do it on
> other channels. The only difference between doing in the open or not was
> mainly about what needs to be done first and what can wait.
>  Nowadays everything is going through the KDE channels.
> 
> > d) Is there an architecture review process? (I am not talking about code
> > review, but design review).
> 
> No formal process. If somebody suggests architectural change, it is
> discussed. The review is for the code.
> 
> > e) Are the rationales behind architecture design decisions captured? Are
> > the inputs (e.g. requirements, alternative designs) captured?
> 
> As in logged, documented? Not that I know, of course the generic
> documentations are updated as much as we have time to do it.

Additionally, you'll find some information in the Git history as well as 
meeting notes on http://community.kde.org/KDE_PIM/Meetings.

regards
Volker
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