[Neurodebian-devel] Adding a resting-state fMRI toolbox to the repository

[André Hoffmann]

Hi there,

I would like to add a set of C/C++-based tools for the processing resting-state fMRI data to the NeuroDebian repository.

There are currently three issues that I will have to sort out before I can start doing so:

1) Missing dependency for FSLIO-library:
The tools link against the fslio-library which I compiled as a shared library from nifticlib(2.0.0). However, the package libnifti2 no longer contains this library and I don’t really think there’s any other package I could add as a dependency that would provide it as a shared library.
What’s the best way to go about this? Add another package that contains the fslio-library? Add fsl as a dependency and modify it to also provide a shared version of the library?
I haven’t tried compiling against the version that comes with fsl, but I guess it wouldn’t be a problem to switch to fsl if that’s what’s necessary to get this dependency-issue sorted out.

2) Pick a license
Personally I don’t care too much about the license, but obviously I’ll have to pick one and thought that you guys might be able to help me doing so.
Here are all my dependencies and their corresponding license:
- xerces-c, Apache Software License V2.0
- glib/gmodule, LGPL
- GSL, GPL
- Qt, LGPL
- nifticlib, in the license file it states: ‘the code is released into the public domain’. it does not, however, explicitly mention any license
- libz, zlib license (apparently compatible to GPL)

and maybe(see issue #1):
- FSL, http://fsl.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsldownloads/

3) Close remaining bugs
There’s still some bugs that I need to resolve, but that’s nothing I’d be needing help with. I just wanted to start the whole packaging process before I’m done with them as I am getting close to completion.
I’d also have to generate some test-data that could go into the release (I’m currently using actual data).

Thank you very much in advance for your input!

Best,
André