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174 lines
9.3 KiB
HTML
174 lines
9.3 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
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<title>Expo - How Can I Contribute?</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
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</head>
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<body>
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<h2 id="tophead">CUCC Expedition Handbook - Maintenance</h2>
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<h1>How Can I Contribute?</h1>
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<h2>How you can help</h2><a href="../survey/why.htm"><img class="onright" src="go-caving-th.jpg"></a>
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<p>
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OK, you have been on expo, or are planning to go and the organisers have said
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that <a href="../planning.html">they don't need any more help</a> (hah!).
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We always need help maintaining the records of cave explorations. We also always
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need help maintaining the software and documentation which helps us do this.
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<p>Possibly you are a programmer horrified by the apparently archaic software
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you have seen, possibly you just want to make sure that the work you
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did has been properly recorded and
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<a href="/personexpedition/BeckaLawson/2009">attributed</a>, or maybe you have
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seen an <a href="/survey_scans/">obvious gap in the cross-referencing</a> and would like to fix it.
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<h3 id="surveydata">Survey Data</h3>
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<p>We have a <a href="todo-data.html">Expo <em>Data</em> To-Do List</a>. If all you do is to check items on this list
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and email a nerd to tell them which have already been done then that would be excellent.
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And if you discover any bad or missing survey data then here is
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where you record the problem (see "Edit this page" below).
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<p>The biggest job after every expo is "tunneling": turning the typed-up survex data into drawings.
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<div class="onright">
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<figure>
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<a href="/survey_scans/2017%252331/notes2.jpeg"><img width="200px" src="/survey_scans/2017%252331/notes2.jpeg"></a>
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<br><figcaption style="font-variant-caps: small-caps;">2017 Snakecharmer in 258</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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<p>Cavers are usually pretty good, with some encouragement, at typing their survey notes into
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<a href="/survexfile/caves-1623/2017-cucc-24/couldashouldawoulda_to_bathdodgersbypass.svx">survex
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files</a> and scanning <a href="/survey_scans/2019%252305/notes1.pdf">their notes</a> and
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underground sketches (in the plastic survey wallets) as scanfiles into the
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<a href="/survey_scans/2019%252305/">online wallets</a>.
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But the <a href="/expofiles/surveyscans/2019/walletindex.html">outstanding tasks list</a> after expo
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is always much longer than we would like.
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So <a href="/survexfile/291">the list of surveys attached to a cave</a> is incomplete,
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as can be seen by looking at
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<a href="/logbookentry/2019-07-13/2019.s08.plateau-fi">the equivalent logbook records of trips</a>
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for those dates
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(scroll down to the bottom of the expedition page for the calendar).
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<p>There is always a backlog of surveyed caves that need their scanned centrelines annotating with
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the in-cave sketches, and then re-scanning and tracing using tunnel (or therion) to produce a survey.
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This is "tunneling".
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<p>We also have a simpler job of editing old survex files with the correct caver names such that
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old data is attributed. For example the trip to <a href="/survexfile/115">the deepest part of the SMKsystem</a>
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is still not properly connected with the rest of the survey systems
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because the survex data uses an old format
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(this was Chaz Butcher, Andy Dolby and Pete Lancaster's trips to the Orgasm Chasm sump in 115 in 1982).
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In 1999 and earlier the scanned notes and wallets are not connected to the survex files either as you can see
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in the blank "survex blocks" column in <a href="/survey_scans/">the survey scans folders</a> list.
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<h3 id="programming">Programming</h3>
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<p>The expo software system is a multi-decade long-term project. So it is probably unlike
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any software projects you have been involved with. It is quite unlike other Django projects.
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<a href="../troggle/trogarch.html">
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<div class="onright">
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<figure>
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<a href="https://djangobook.com/mdj2-django-structure/"><img src="mtv_drawing2.jpg"></a>
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<br><figcaption style="font-variant-caps: small-caps;">Django server and webpage (client)</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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</a>
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<p>The primary problem is lack of consistently available manpower. So modifications
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have to be compact and designed to be easily maintainable by time-constrained numpties
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in the future. So whatever you do has to be consistently documented (and
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<a href="onlinesystems.html">in the manuals</a>, not just in the code)
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otherwise it will just get thrown away by the next person.
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<p>There are few "clean" little programming jobs really. Nearly everything is intimately
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connected to the data formats of the expo and survey input data: survex files, tunnel files,
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therion files, logbook files, cave-description XML files, entrance files, survey-scans folders
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(wallets) and <a href="../survey/newcave.html">the workflow</a> of turning scruffy notes
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into the finished survey documents we provide to the Austrians.
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<h4>Little jobs to start with</h4>
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<p>We have a <a href="todo.html">Expo <em>Systems</em> To-Do List</a>. If all you do is to test items on this list
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and delete those which have already been done then that would be excellent (use the "Edit this to-do list"
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big blue button on that page: and then email someone to tidy up the <a href="/repositories/">git checkin</a>
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when you are done). And if you discover any bugs and - especially if you find a web page which crashes - then
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here is where you record the problem.
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<p>There are some simple jobs that don't require in-depth knowledge of large
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parts of the system, e.g. extracting diagrams from the scanned PDF copies of the logbooks
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and inserting them into the HTML version of the same logbook. There is a list of the logbooks
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that need doing in the "Logbook Fettling" section of the
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<a href="todo-data.html">Expo <em>Data</em> To-Do List</a>.
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<p>There are broken links in the handbook which need fixing. At the bottom of the
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<a href="yourlaptop.html">your laptop configuration</a> page is a list of link-checking tools.
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Run one or more of these and use the <a href="hbmanual1.html">"Edit this page"</a>
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capability to fix the handbook pages
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so that the links work. This is a perennial problem with external websites which change their
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hosting systems and domain names too frequently for us to keep up with.
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<h4>Bigger jobs</h4>
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<a href="../survey/newcave.html">
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<div class="onright">
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<figure>
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<a href="../l/life-wallet.html">
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<img src="../t/life-wallet.jpg"></a>
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<figcaption style="font-variant-caps: small-caps;">
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<em>The things you do with a wallet</em>
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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</div>
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</a>
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<p>Before starting any coding you will need to have a good general feel for what the input data is
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and how it is handled. So please, please do a couple of data management jobs first -
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as described in the 'Survey Data' section above.
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<p>Many of the items on the Systems To-Do list won't make much sense until you have read
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through the <a href="../troggle/trogarch.html">expo systems architecture</a> documents,
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and before you plan some changes have a look
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at the <a href="../troggle/trogdesign.html">design decisions and proposals documents</a>
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of the things we are already thinking about. And before you do anything, please do contribute
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a page or two on what you think would be a good idea (using the handbook editing
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<a href="hbmanual1.html">"Edit this page"</a> capability to
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add a new design document).
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<p>
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Before you do anything substantial you will probably need to
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<a href="basiclaptop.html">set up a basic expo machine</a> and
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then <a href="yourlaptop.html">a data management configuration</a>. This
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can take several hours, but you don't need to install everything before
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you can contribute to fixing things in the <a href="todo.html">Expo <em>Systems</em> To-Do List</a>.
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If you really want to get stuck into the code you will need a <a href="../troggle/troglaptop.html">troggle software development configuration</a>.
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<p>Finally, if that all sounds like too much hassle for you, were are in desparate need
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of a lot more very simple <a href="../troggle/trogtests.html">tests for troggle</a>.
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The more tests we have, the more confident we can be
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about making big changes without breaking things. We especially need these for the input parsers
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as whatever happens in the future, we are still going to need to parse the archived input files.
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<h4 id="opensource">Copyright and open source</h4>
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<a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/brand-resources/trademark-and-licensing">
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<img class="onright" width=150px" src="https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/logo.jpg">
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</a>
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<p>By contributing code and documentation to the expo systems you are assigning copyright under the
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License">OSI MIT</a>
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open source license to CUCC (Cambridge University Caving Club). Note that Troggle is built with Django which uses the
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<a href="https://www.djangoproject.com/trademarks/">CC-BY-SA 3.0</a> creative commons license.
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Text and photographs, except where documenting code, are covered by <a href="../../copyit.htm">a
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separate copyright process</a>
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and by default this will be
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons_license#Types_of_licenses">CC-BY-SA 3.0</a>.
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Note that "Cambridge University" and other similar phrases are
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<a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/brand-resources/trademark-and-licensing">strictly controlled by the university</a>.
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<hr />
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Go on to: <a href="../troggle/trogintro.html">Troggle introduction</a><br />
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Return to: <a href="onlinesystems.html">Expo systems overview</a><br />
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<hr />
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</body>
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</html>
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