Packaging FreeSurfer
********************
+:ref:`FreeSurfer <pkg_freesurfer>` is a set of tools for analysis and
+visualization of structural and functional brain imaging data. It contains a
+fully automatic structural stream for processing cross sectional and
+longitudinal data. Packaging of FreeSurfer for Debian is a part of our
+general efforts to provide comprehensive neuro-imaging research support.
+
Status
------
-We are in contact with Freesurfer developers and are awaiting the resolution of
-legal issues that currently prevent legal redistribution of FreeSurfer.
+The majority of FreeSurfer 5.1.0 has been released under seems to be
+|DFSG|-compliant |FOSS| license terms on 24 May 2011. We have started working
+on packaging. Following has been done
+
+* modularization of the FreeSurfer distribution into code and data components
+
+* FreeSurfer 5.1.0 |FOSS| code made available from our `FreeSurfer GitHub
+ <https://github.com/neurodebian/freesurfer>`_ repository
+
+* :file:`debian/patches` contains a series of patches primarily to
+
+ - rely on system-provided libraries where applicable
+ - in general replace static inclusion with dynamic linking thus
+ greatly decreasing size of distributed binaries and making deployment more modular
-This project will continue as soon as the Freesurfer source code is available
-under |FOSS| license terms.
+.. todo:: FreeSurfer packaging
-..
- .. todo::
+ * Collect and provide all required libraries to link against
+ * Decide on further separation in to binary packages
+ * Decide on how to ship "freesurfer-cuda" (depends on non-free materials,
+ so cannot be build by the source in Debian `main` component)
+ * Investigate possibility to deprecate/replace functionality dependent on
+ antique libraries which might have been or soon will be removed from
+ Debian (e.g. xview)
-..
- References
- ----------
+References
+----------
- <references>
+* `Debian ITP bug report <http://bugs.debian.org/628183>`_ with additional
+ information on the packaging progress.
+* `FreeSurfer GitHub`_ with the full source code and the Debian packaging
+* http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/fswiki/NextGenCode
.. include:: link_names.txt