Forum OpenACS Q&A: Need for a one page description of all released modules.

1: Need for a one page description of all released modules.

Posted by Ricardo Mireles on 05/07/02 04:16 AM

I believe there is a need for a descriptive listing of all the models
available for OpenACS. This would help in promoting OpenACS, as in
"click here to see all the functionality that is already in OpenACS."
Or even if I could just refer to such a list to translate into
"Execu-talk."

I could download each and every module and cut out the descriptions,
(Yeah, Yeah ... "Use the force, read the source!") but I do think this
should be a part of the SDM (or something).

There is a list of the module *NAMES* that is accessible via the
"Software" link on the Main page, after you choose the appropriate
version, and click on "general package information." For a newbie,
however, this does not provide much info ...("What does the Skin
module do?")

Oddly, the list for OpenACS-4 does have 2 descriptive entries. My
guess is that there is a descriptive field that is not being filled.
Other helpful listings are the tables under
main/OpenACS-4.x/News/Project Status showing who is taking the lead on
a module, and the status. But still, no description of what the module
does (also seems abit dated).

Perhaps there is already such a listing that I am not finding. In any
case, thanks for all the hard work to get this code out there.

2: Response to Need for a one page description of all released modules. (response to 1)

Posted by Don Baccus on 05/07/02 01:40 PM

There's not currently such a list. One problem is that at some point we may stop making atomic releases. What I mean by this is that various packages will get released on their own (dotLRN is an example, though parts like the new portals package will get mainstreamed), new versions of packages will get released even when the core's stable, etc.

This makes a central list more difficult to keep.

But ... we will eventually be setting up a smarter site with the OpenACS 4.5 download package. This package includes a summary page of everything available under a particular repository (say, the OpenACS 4x repository).

This is one more reason to try to find the resources to push forward with the implementation of our new openacs.org website ...

3: Response to Need for a one page description of all released modules. (response to 1)

Posted by defunct defunct on 05/07/02 01:44 PM

Don,

I had thought there was already a group preparing the new website?

Is this anything we can contribute to? Always can find some time for some HTML... cathartic pursuits and all that...

Cheers

Simon

4: Response to Need for a one page description of all released modules. (response to 1)

Posted by Don Baccus on 05/07/02 03:14 PM

Musea did the original work on the website, but have been very busy with client work and haven't been able to put more resources into it.

Hmmm...though they have been sponsoring the creation of a new OpenACS 4.5 bugtracker which is going to be a lot nicer than ticket-tracker. This can serve as the kernel of an OpenACS 4.5 replacement for the SDM.

Which is something we need before migrating ...

We also probably want the dotLRN version of bboard - they were going to finish up the performance enhancements that I never quite found time to complete. The existing bboard's still a bit slow with large numbers of posts (12000+ in the openacs.org boards). Open Force was also going to do the datamodel cleanup I didn't have time to tackle.

Those are the two issues holding us back, IMO.