Forum OpenACS Q&A: Re: Terminology questions

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2: Re: Terminology questions (response to 1)
Posted by Torben Brosten on
Hi Joel,

I'm glad you're addressing this. I thought I was the only one dealing with this. Documentation needs consistent use of terminology to be really concise and practical.

Here's my perspective's best fit using above framework:

package = concept 1
instance = concept 4
install = concept 2 (includes concept 3 for service packages)
package_id = concept 5
mount = concept 6 (includes concept 3 for application packages)
alias = concept 9
module = a procedure or set of procedures external to openacs (a guess)
application = concept 7 and 10
service = concept 7 and 12
package aware = concept 11

Depending on how these concepts are mapped, concept11 and concept12 could create another level of ambiguity.

A "service" is a package that does not get mounted, but is package-aware, essentially providing services to other packages.

An "application" is a package that gets mounted, but is not (other) package-aware by default, unless it provides service(s) to other packages.