In order to increase the amount of positive feedback that we get from our communities we are introducing a version checker.
For information on the benefits to the community and to the software of a version checker please read The Case For Positive Feedback
The Pre-Configured Installation (PCI) will be the first package that will include the version checker. Our plan is to add the version checker to the design tools and ETL, OLAP and Reporting engines in upcoming releases.
Charter
This is our charter for our version checker:
Voluntary
The version checker can be disabled using the standard configuration system:
- For the Pre-Configured Installation this is done via the pentaho-solutions/system/pentaho.xml file. See below for more details.
The version checker can be removed entirely from the software without causing any degradation of any kind.
No Discrimination
The data collected through the version checker will never be used to discriminate against any group, individual, or field of endeavor.
Transparency
Data Transmitted
The data sent by the version checker to our server is described here.
Purpose
The purpose of the version checker is to help focus the efforts of the community on the latest version of the software. This increases the number of contributions that are submitted and helps improve the functionality and stability of the software.
The data from the version checker will provide us with more accurate data during the release cycle when estimating how many people are using the software and how hardened the new features are.
In addition data from the version checker will help us to plan and priotitize platform certifications, testing plans, and localization plans.
Source Code
The source code for the version checker is available via an http interface into our subversion source code repository. Use these links to view the packages and code:
The source code that integrates the version checker into the Bi platform can be viewed using these links:
Privacy
The data collected through the version checker will not be used in a manner that violates Pentaho's privacy policy.
Configuration
The BI Platform Version Checker is a scheduled quartz job that determines if a new version of the platform is available, and if so, writes information to the BI Server log notifying the system administrator. The Version Checker is configured in the pentaho-solutions/system/pentaho.xml as a System Listener:
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Disabling the Version Checker
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