Forum OpenACS Development: Re: Porting Project/Open (Intranet Module) to OpenACS 5.0

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Posted by Don Baccus on
I don't see anyone rejecting, what I see is folks asking for clarification.

In the past (as I said above) with the modular structure of OpenACS 4.x (which includes 5.0) we've taken the position that packages that are written standalone, not containing GPL'd code, don't need to be GPL'd. Much like the position that the Linux folks take with the kernel - if you make kernel API calls that does not require you GPL your code. GNU developed the LGPL to make this more clear in regard to libraries but AFAIK GNU's never taken an extreme position in regard to libraries anyway - the LGPL was created to clarify things (folks who know the history better, feel free to correct me).

So I think we're on the same wavelength in regard to licensing.

But I am actually not that impressed by OpenACS. The software usability is quite poor and it has completely lost the race against PHP.

Hint: insulting the community isn't likely to win you friends and isn't likely to foster an atmosphere where community volunteers chip in with hints on design or implementation.

We're not in a race against PHP - which is a language, not a community-based system. While we are working to improve the out-of-the-box usability of OpenACS, that's not our only or even primary goal. "Why not?" That's an exercise I'll leave to you to figure out. Because your tone does nothing to encourage me to spend time educating you.

I will say that porting from OpenACS 3.x to the OpenACS 5.0 platform is a very sizable task if you're going to do a proper job, and if you're not going to do a proper job, why bother? You can import the templating system into the ACS 3.x environment, for instance.

And if you really feel PHP has torched our ass and that we've lost the race (an odd observation since we're not "racing" PHP), why not port your system to PHP? It might even be easier for you since it appears you're not likely to do a proper integration with OpenACS 5.x anyway.

And by choosing PHP, why ... you'll be on the winning team, surely preferable to hanging out with a bunch of losers like us.