[sac-dev] SAC Development Coordinator announcement

[Robert Casey]

	Dear Members of the SAC Development Group

	In order for the SAC developer community to be better served by IRIS  
DMC's custodianship of the SAC source code control system, we are  
offering a point of contact at the DMC that SAC developers can count  
on to help them with CVS checkout/commit procedures and any other  
issues dealing with concurrent development.  Chris Laughbon, a Senior  
Software Engineer at IRIS DMC has graciously offered to fill this  
role, which we refer to as the SAC Development Coordinator.

	Chris is an ideal choice because of his own hands-on experience with  
the SAC source code, having developed a DHI client for SAC to allow  
seamless access to data and metadata via CORBA.*  He is also familiar  
with using CVS for projects here at the DMC, so he should be able to  
address many questions that the developer community may have with  
regard to maintaining the source code control system.  His experience  
in C/C++ programming is extensive and he has developed GUI  
applications in both X Windows and Java environments.**  For many  
years, he has maintained and authored components of the 'rdseed'  
application, which provides the capability of converting SEED files  
to SAC format.

	SAC-DHI is currently under evaluation for release to the sac-dev  
group to examine and comment on its functionality and stability.   
With approval from the sac-dev group, we will feel comfortable  
releasing the software for public access under the currently licensed  
release guidelines.

	I hope to hear your comments on this proposal and how IRIS DMC can  
better serve the SAC community through source code stewardship and  
developer support.  Chris Laughbon can be contacted at  
chris at iris.washington.edu .

	Thank you for your time,

	Robert Casey
	Director of Software Engineering
	IRIS Data Management Center
	rob at iris.washington.edu

	Footnotes:
	*  Please refer to the IRIS Electronic Newsletter Article - "Project  
Focus: SAC DHI", Volume VII, Number 4
	http://www.iris.edu/news/newsletter/vol7no4/page2.htm

	** Referring to IRIS applications: WEED, JWeed, and Vase
	http://www.iris.edu/manuals/