Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 07:52:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: parker@momma.mi-recordz.com
To: marty@linuxtoday.com
Subject: MWSvol41
Greetings!
MWS for 7th of May, 2000 (#41)
Current versions:
Stable: 1.2.5 'Mad King'
Devel.: 1.4beta.3
Oracle: 1.2.5 Oracle 8i
Readers,
There’s a number of valuable developments which aren’t recieving
the news coverage that they warrant. I’m including plugs for a
couple of these here. I’ll reiterate that everyone is welcome to
contribute to the MWS.
Ami Ganguli is actively developing the Midgard Library API
Documentation which is available at www.ganguli.com. This work
coincides with Ami’s effort to build a Postgres port for the
Midgard lib. To review the mailing list discussions please
visit:
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=midgard-dev&w=2&r=1&s=Ami+Ganguli&q=b
Lanifex Partners has announced their intentions to translate
Midgard documentation into German and Spanish. Their announcement
can be read at:
http://www.midgard-project.org/article/7743.html
Thank you
Ron Parker parker@mi-recordz.com
Aurora News Release
By Jean-Noel De GALZAIN, Aurora CEO and Jean-Philippe BRUNON,
Aurora Research and Development Manager
Aurora’s primary goal is to develop and market an Open Source
Software (OSS) solution for building professional Web internet and
intranet portals with functionality that includes; publishing,
E-commerce, groupware, etc. After examining Midgard 1.4, we’ve
concluded that the 2.0 version of Midgard will make a strong core
to build these Open Source applications.
While considering the best strategy, the Aurora team decided to
use OSS because it eliminates the reinvention of solutions that
already exist. We percieve this as one of the main benefits of OSS
especially when you consider the costs of writing software.
Ultimately, we believe the Open Source Software strategy is
superior to the proprietary and commercial models embraced by
companies like Vignette, WebSphere and ColdFusion.
On the commercial side, Aurora has a long-term strategy. We will
provide a comprehensive and professional range of services around
Midgard and the applications based on Midgard. These services
include:
- technical support,
- training,
- specific developments based on Midgard,
- consulting,
- Professional distributions,
- VARs certification programs.
We consider what Redhat has done for linux as a model of how
Aurora will work with Midgard. We’ll apply Redhat’s strategy to
developing web portal applications which focus on professional
markets by providing a solid basis for companies to develop
affordable and professional web based services. In our opinion,
there isn’t a reasonable core for building applications. We have
identified Midgard as a solution that can fulfill this industry
need and have established a relationship with their developers. We
have put our plan into action.
About Midgard 1.4
We have concluded that Midgard 1.4 is a powerful content
management system and a good publishing tool. However, in our
opinion, its primary weakness is a lack of modularity that would
allow other OSS projects to use Midgard as the core for their
applications.
We intend to help produce a Midgard 1.4 package that is easy to
install, includes user level documentation and a friendlier
administration interface. The final 1.4 product will be a
professional publishing solution for advanced and beginning
webmasters who don’t have programming skills that other solutions
require. Everyone will be able to customize the 1.4 product to meet
their needs. The goals for 1.4 include:
- completing the development of the 1.4 core
- improve installation and documentation
- redesign and write a friendlier administration interface
- market and position 1.4 to guarantee a smooth transition
towards version 2.0
Ultimately, 1.4 will be a solid publishing and content handling
tool that precedes the modular development environment of version
2.0. We will do everything in our power to help the Midgard core
developers begin focusing their energy on version 2.0. We will
apply additional resources towards the packaging and documentation
of 2.0.
We believe September 2000 is an acceptable deadline for
completing these goals and releasing the final Midgard 1.4
branch.
V2 Architecture, License Considerations
It is a primary concern to have a modular and scalable
architecture. Our proposal for licensing applies to the unique
module layers. We think a three layer model addresses the
modularity and licensing issues. The following graphics depict the
model for architecture and states our suggestions for licensing
within each layer:
------------------------------------------------------ | | | Upper layer : Applications (GPL) | | | | ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- | | | | | | | | | | | Other apps | | Aurora apps | | Midgard apps | | | | | | | | | | | ---------------- ---------------- ---------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ | | | Middle layer : Services (LGPL) | | | | ---------------- | | | | ---------------- | | | Other libs | | | ---------------- | | | | | Aurora libs | | | | | ---------------- | | | Midgard libs | | | ---------------- | | | | ---------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ | | | Lower layer : Midgard Core (LGPL) | | | ------------------------------------------------------
Dependancies are top/down and left/right.
The documentation which we consider to be a key feature for
establishing Midgard as a viable product, will follow these layers
and will be protected by the GFDL license.
We believe the Midgard version 2.0 core should be available by
October 2000 for developers to begin designing and running
libraries on the top of. The version 2.0 core and main libraries,
i.e. topic and article, should be released by December 2000. The
documentation is being designed with the O’Reilly style guide and
should also be available by January 2000.
Aurora, Midgard Developers
Aurora believes the Midgard core developers are working well
together and we want to support this culture. Contributions we can
make in the interest of increase productivity for the Midgard and
Aurora developers include:
- hiring developers that will dedicate their time to the Midgard
version 2.0 core, Midgard libraries and other libraries - provide additional resources for development and critical
peripheral tasks, i.e. documentation and packaging. - use Midgard for developing and serving Aurora’s customer
projects.
Of course, our Midgard project strategy will always remain
visible. We are very impressed with the skills of the core
developers and their history for assisting both new users and
developers. We want to encourage this behavior. This is the way the
Aurora teams works. This friendly atmosphere will attract and keep
more users and developers. Consequently, it has a serious impact on
the success of Midgard and Aurora.
Aurora Position Concerning Midgard Project Ry
Aurora does not want to have an influence on the Midgard Project
Ry (MPRy) policies. We think the Midgard culture is best protected
by not interfering. In addition to hiring developers, Aurora will
sponsor MPRy so its members can take part in OSS talks and
events.
Midgard Developer Meeting in Paris, France (June 24 and 25)
Aurora will be happy to host the Midgard developer meeting in
our offices at Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris, France. Technical
issues aside, this should be an opportunity for the Midgard and
Aurora developers to meet in person.
Midgard Documentation Effort, Mandates Revision of Virtual
Midgard Using Company Site
In an effort to produce a definitive Midgard 1.4 manual, David
Guerizec and Alexander Bokovoy, Midgard developers, will begin work
on an upgrade of the Midgard example site “Virtual Midgard Using
Company (VMUC). Lydia Michotte, of Aurora, and I, Ron Parker, will
write a tutorial that includes step-by-step instructions for
building the site and theoretical explanations of each application
feature. The VMUC site ships with Midgard and is designed to be an
example for users who are beginning to study Midgard. The redesign
will be named VMUCv1.4 to coincide with the Midgard 1.4 application
branch.
The redesign plan is to incorporate all the 1.4 application
features into VMUC1.4. For example, the site will make use of
Alexander Bokovoy’s CodeSnippet features. Which will improve the
reuse and sharing of the site’s code. Additionally, we’ll
incorporate Emiliano Heyns’ BlobServing feature to manage image
files, etc. The new site will also demonstrate David Guerizec’s
MyCalandar which when finished will include many of the same
features found in Yahoo’s MyCalander.
The new site will demonstrate the content management and
publishing capabilities of Midgard by including a product catalog
and news article script amongst other features.
If anyone is interested in contributing to the project, they’re
encouraged to do so by expressing their specific concerns on the
midgard-dev@greywolves.org mailing list. In addition to the code
and feature design, the project will consider a graphical design.
There hasn’t been any discussion concerning graphics.
About Midgard
Midgard is a freely-available Web application development and
publishing platform based on the popular PHP scripting language. It
is an Open Source development project, giving you the freedom to
create your own solutions in an open environment. Midgard is the
tool for creating, modifying and maintaining dynamic
database-enabled web services.
-> http://www.midgard-project.org
About MWS
The Midgard Weekly Summary is a newsletter for the Midgard user
and developer community.
The MWS is currently being distributed in following mediums:
-The Midgard Project’s Web site
-> http://www.midgard-project.org
-Linux Weekly News
-> http://www.lwn.net
-Linux Today
-> https://www.linuxtoday.com
-Linux Developer’s Network
-> http://linuxdev.net
-LinuxProgramming
-> http://www.linuxprogramming.com
-Midgard mailing list
If you would like to release it elsewhere, please contact Henri
Bergius
(Henri.Bergius@iki.fi) or
Ron Parker (parker@mi-recordz.com).
Previous issues of Midgard Weekly Summary can be found archived
at the Midgard web site.
-> http://www.midgard-project.org/topic/169.html