Public repository for VA

[jpelrine]

At the VA Forum in Frankfurt a few weeks back, a couple of us talked about the possibility of setting up a public code repository, similar to the VW public Store repository. I took a look, and I think I have a solution that won't be too difficult to implement. I already have a lot of code for the plumbing, but I don't have enough time to pull the whole thing off myself (unless Eric wants to hire me ), so I was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping out?

Cheers
Joseph

[nmongeau]

Joseph,

I'd be glad to help, time permitting of course.

Normand

[jpelrine]

Hi Normand,

Thanks for your interest. Contact me off-line, so we don't clog the forum.

Cheers
Joseph

[wembley]

Joseph -

Yes, we did discuss this in Frankfurt. I suppose there are 2 general areas to deal with -- technical and policy.

I will be happy to participate in the technical discussions/effort, partly because I'm interested and partly so that I can ensure that the effort is enhanced by any work we are already planning. Maybe this would make an interesting CampSmalltalk project?

The policy issue is also something I will need to pursue. If the technical work look fruitful, then questions need to be formulated and addressed. For example (just a beginning):

1) Will Instantiations host the repository or will it be hosted on a volunteer server (I personally prefer the former, but I haven't even begun to see what the official Instantiations position would be)?
2) What will be the criteria (if any) for adding to the repository?
3) Who can update the repository?
4) Who can delete from the repository?

Thank you for offering your ideas, code and leadership in this effort.

[marten]

J
1) Will Instantiations host the repository or will it be hosted on a volunteer server (I personally prefer the former, but I haven't even begun to see what the official Instantiations position would be)?
2) What will be the criteria (if any) for adding to the repository?
3) Who can update the repository?
4) Who can delete from the repository?

Thank you for offering your ideas, code and leadership in this effort.

Repository is good - but which technology should be used ? Direct access to ENVY seems not to be suitable ? What else do we have then ... indirect access to ENVY via a running Smalltalk image ???? Some server task ?

2) Adding - well every (writeable allowed) person should get a private account. If a person uploads such a project code it should also be default administrator of that project.

3) see 2)

4) the administrator of that project.

Marten

[jpelrine]

Hi all!

I'm sorry I didn't get back here earlier, but I've been on the road a lot, and by "off-line", I guess I meant via email, so it was only when Normand actually sent me a mail that I became aware of the fact that there were 3 private messages for me waiting here in this forum. Sorry.

I'm not sure whether to take communications ragarding this project some place else, or keep them here, but for now, I'll post here.

One thought I had is that we don't need to base a goodie repository on an ENVY server, although that's should be an option. What we do need is a web-based application with an html front end as well as the possibility to connect directly from a VA image. This application should support the operations of uploading and downloading (goodie) files, as well as providing search functionality for keywords and descriptions, user management, etc.

I've already done a bunch of work for the client side of this, and need the most help on the server side. FWIW, what I was working on today was how to tag config maps as goodies. I see 4 possibilities:

1. Introduce a new record type in the repository (fun to do, but overkill)
2. Tag config map names with an invisible prefix, similar to the <proj> config maps from VA Java (easy to implement, but require re-tooling the browsers to filter these maps out)
3. Using a visible prefix, similar to the z.* prefix used for features (butt ugly)
4. Tagging transparently using inherited user fields. I prefer this approach.

So, if any of you guys who expressed interest have some ideas about a web-based file storage solution, let us know.

Sorry about the this confused message, but I'm writing this in a,nairport ounge, and it's too loud here to collect my thoughts. More later.

Cheers
Joseph

[nmongeau]

Envy is terrible (performance-wise) on a WAN, so I'd seriously consider using anything else. While I don't have an solution in mind, some investigation should dig out alternatives. FWIW I do have something of interest, it's a sort of database server accessible from anywhere, it uses XML to communicate and can store any sorts of data, text, binary, etc.

I'm not sure about a web-based solution, I mean, accessing a repository from within an image seems to be the widest use one can make of such a repository, but I may be too near-sighted to see other potential uses. I've used the VW repository, AFAIK it can only be accessed from within VW, and it makes perfect sense to me.

I think a committee of peers should review uploads before entering them into the repository. As elitist as this seems, IMO it's a barrier against junk making its way in.

Just some ramblings...

Normand