open TELEMAC-MASCARET The mathematically superior suite of solvers

Objective

I was looking for the validation document associated with Telemac 7.2.1.
The solution to the search is not unique, though.

Evidence 1

If I go to the download area of the website and namely to www.opentelemac.org/index.php/validation, the validation document there is dated July 2015 and relates to version 7.0.

This document has 186 pages, is neatly structured into the claim-and-substantiation structure. It is released under an agreement that is very much in line with the GPL licensing philosophy.

However, this is not the manual for 7.2.1. For example, there are keywords in the cas file that have been dropped in the meantime, so it's not guaranteed that the cases of one version apply to the other.

So, hope we agree that it would be nice to have the up-to-date version on line.

Evidence 2

If, for a moment, out of curiosity I go in the validation folder of 7.0.1 (v7p0r1/documentation/telemac2d/validation), I find a tex file. Once I typeset it, the document is a mere 6-page long document that essentially gives no information and, on top of this, relates to version 6.3. Hoping of not having done trivial mistakes (please correct), I have attached that.



Evidence 3

Going in the validation folder of 7.2.1 (v7p2r1/documentation/telemac2d/validation), conveniently, there is already a pdf file for version 7.2, dated 20/4/17, authored by Otto Mattic. This one differs very much in layout, structure and content from the online manual for 7.0, which is not an issue in and of itself.

However,

• there is no argumentation in claims and substantiations any longer, which is really good to have to support a piece of software's credibility. Many cases are just empty paragraphs.


• Remarkably, the bibliography features a key piece of literature that I did not manage to fetch for lack of accurate indications. Perhaps some of you have it at hand, see attached clipping:
  
  


• Also, this document is released under much more restrictive conditions that than the GPL licences:
  Any total or partial modification, reproduction, new use, distribution or extraction of elements of this document or its content, without the express and prior written consent of EDF is strictly forbidden. Failure to comply to the above provisions will expose to sanctions.
  Emphasis added.

Questions

Given these pieces of evidence, where/when could I found a validation document that

• applies to 7.2.1;
• can be used without fear of sanctions;
• (discretionarily) has the orderly claims/substantiations of the earlier version for 7.2.0 available from the website, but not from the telemac folders.

I hope that the case for support is clear.
Thanks a lot in advance for dealing with this.

Hello

Well, these remarks are always welcome since they are motivating for all the Telemac development team in order to go on with the improvement of system.
On the other hand, you understand that maintaining the quality of the system is resource consuming. We try to do our best!

Now to answer to your questions:
1- one of our commitments when Telemac turned into opensource, is to provide a complete documentation set every Major realease (6.0 or 7.0 etc.) which was done with release 7.0 including the validation document.
2- with the recent developments, we have changed our tools and have chosen to handle all the documentation using latex in a more-or-less automatic way. That's why you will find a latex file in any single validation example. Henceforth, if you want to generate the validation document, you need only to generate the pdf file by compiling all latex files (can be done automatically).
3-The new procedure is being rolled out and major software tasks are already finished. However, the description of each case is being done by the development team and will be ready for next release hopefully.
4- This explain in part (but do not justify) the exotic references you have found in some files. Mickey was the unique reference in the empty latex template.
5- You're right, the copyright warning is a legacy of the pre-opensource era. I will adapt it to be consistant with the LGPL licence.

Thank you again for your enlightening remarks

with my best regards

Riadh ATA

Thanks for your replying.

In this meantime, I will presume that the validation document for 7.2.1 is the work of Otto Mattic --- a nice sound-alike of automatic, by the way.

I certainly appreciate that it is hard work to maintain a software system. I hope that these evidences will encourage the consortium to muster the resources to complete such tasks as neatly as you/we wish.

I am aware that the software is released 'as is'. However, once the consortium invites the world to check for themselves the credibility of the software, an extra effort in quality control is probably justified. At this moment, the risk is that the time not spent on it in the production phase is reverse-charged on the users. This, in terms of community, is a disproportionate imbalance of efforts. IMHO.

All in all, I feel we are on the same page, and am hopeful for the coming developments. Thanks again for having considered my remarks. Best wishes for all future work.

(And I am certainly grateful that you have not imposed any sanction on me for reproducing the sanctioning message without express and prior consent...)