[JaxPM] Jax.PM Project

[JONES, WILLIAM C]

On the jacksonville-pm-list; Jax.PM'er "JONES, WILLIAM C" <wcjones at exchange.fccj.org> wrote -

 Sorry, I was delayed having to actually work for a living  :)

I haven't seen anyone objecting to discussing this here ('cept for the
recent
u n s u b s c r i b e r ...)

At any rate, I am not advocating another MadDuck, WebCT, or Blackboard
operation, I just want things to be simple, extensible, and portable.  I am
not suggesting I trick anyone into helping me write s/w for FCCJ - whatever
comes of this we all get to keep and play with / extend for each individual
person.

I am hoping J comes back with some good news regarding Licensing; I am
somewhat partial to Apache and/or Perl's model.  Maybe I might lean toward a
'community source' type deal where the primary interest in 'granted' to the
Perl Monger's as a whole -- not just Jax.PM -- that way we get sort of
non-profit protection in out efforts.  Each contributor maintains an
individual co-authorship of the project, sharing co-ownership with
Jacksonville Perl Monger membership.

I feel this would be a good group project to get 'yer feet wet' as it were
for the new and old Perl'ers alike  :)

As far as projects go, I've more or less done the following type projects:

*  Built mid-range AIX/Solaris data centers...

*  Since 1997, built/installed/maintained several courseware delivery
systems using WCB, WebCT, Blackboard, and at one time in the remote past,
even set-up Virtual-U.  (Note, WCB and Virtual-U are both completely written
in Perl -- at least back in 1998 they were...)

*  Written complete s/w systems using C, Progress 4GL (on CTOS and Unix),
and a few in Perl (filesystem scanners for tracking/auditing HQX submissions
for ShadowMac, remailers, HTML posters, a lot of web-centric or sysamdin
stuff...)

However, my project management skills suck, and I feel that J or Steve have
MUCH more relevant Perl experience than I - so, therefore I submit that we
elect either Steve or J into the position of Keeper of the Holiest Jax.PM
Project specs, goals, and guidelines  :)

What say you, Jax.PM members?


Also, along the lines of 'specs' I would like to open for discussion these:

General requirements:

1)  No requirement may violate another requirement:
 *  Must be portable within Intel/PPC/Ultrasparc systems...
 *  Must use current/stable versions of all software...
 *  Must use ONLY Open Source systems or be completely
    hand written by PM members...


Software requirements:

* Must use Apache-Stable code, no beta or bleeding edge stuff...
* Must use Perl-Stable code, etc, etc...

We need to decide upon a database model:

XML-oriented (ie: flat text, but portable descriptors...)
DBM/DBI
MySQL
Postgres
Choose something free that runs on at least:
Redhat, LinuxPPC, SuSE, Debian, AIX, and Solaris, etc...
I know that Postgres runs on them all...

(Rel/Obj DMBS like Oracle, Progress, Sybase, etc, are out of my
price range -- unless someone wants to give me one?)


Application requirements:

*  Must forms/template driven with security foremost in mind.
*  Be extensible using said templates...
*  Have various authentication methods:  LDAP, /etc/passwd, .htaccess,
etc...
*  Have it's own internal mail system (must not rely, nor depend, upon
   the sendmail, blat.exe, or lack thereof...)
*  Have a IRC/Chat method...
*  Have a Whiteboard function...
*  Have a Discussion list function...
*  Have a Portal function.
*  Have a forms/template driven testing system...

I think that will take us about 3 months if we get started right away  :)

(I'm teasing, I'm teasing.  Seriously, you guys think about it and get back
to the list with some ideas or follow-up discussion.)

Best;
-Sneex-  :]




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