OA Distribution

OA Distribution

The OA Distribution package (available in the files section with the a name like "oa_dist_r#.zip") is the official release of the OpenAutonomy server. See the INSTALL.txt file in the zip for details on how to install the specific version you have.

Below is a short description of each of the components in the this standard package and what they do (these are found in the "oa" directory). The basic layout stye of these components is that they each consist of a callable entry-point script "<name>.php" and some also have resource directories "<name>.oa". In many cases, the entry-point is stored inside the resource directory.</name></name>

Note that the distribution does not contain any PHP files which are not callable entry-points. All common library code is inlined into the entry-points during packaging.

Components:

• async_task.php - The script called by asynchronous tasks (pseudo-threads) when the server runs them.
• cached.php - The script which exposes the contents of the server's cache of identity appearances, identity trusted lists, and URL previews.
• cron.php - The script which is provided as a system cron entry-point (using this is optional but allows the server to process work while idle).
• details.oa - The application which provides a user with their appearance. Appearances are used to determine the user's name and user pic, on servers where they are mentioned, but also provides data which can aid in searching for the user.
• first.oa - This is the initial landing-page of a user the first time they visit the server. In the case of a remote identity visiting, they will land on this page if they haven't visited for a while, as well. This is typically over-ridden by custom changes to the distribution in order to provide a CAPTCHA or present a license agreement.
• identity.oa - This application which represents a user's "hub" in the OA network. Every user has an identity and it is how they refer to each other and where their application instances are registered.
• js_config.php - A very simple script which only provides some static configuration data in the form of JavaScript so that it can be easily included by all applications.
• login.oa - The entry-point which provides login and logout capabilities.
• maintenance.php - The script called every 24 hours to perform expensive system maintenance tasks which aren't of time-critical importance (cleaning stale caches, etc).
• rss_reader.oa - The application which converts remote RSS entities into items for the user's social feed. This is used for syndicated feed support but is also used in case the user wants to attach a blog, etc, from elsewhere to their social feed in OA.
• search.oa - The entry-point to the server's user search capability. This allows logged-in users to search this server's identity cache for users which mention certain keywords.
• server.oa - The entry-point which exposes server information such as recent social activity, local users, and local syndicated feeds.
• social.oa - The application which provides basic social networking functionality to the users. It collects and displays all the social entries posted by the users it trusts in a way which allows for conversation across these items.
• storage.oa - The application which provides cloud storage to the user and their application. The storage is exposed as a hierarchical file system, similar to what exists on a desktop computer.
• syndicated_feeds.oa - The server entry-point which exposes the ability to create local "pseudo-identities" which will watch remote sites for changes (if they expose RSS data) and convert those updates to its social feed.
• welcome.oa - The server entry-point used when a new local user first logs in (after they go through first.oa). This page exposes the logs of what it is doing as it builds their identity and core applications. They are typically only at this page for roughly 1 second before being redirected to their new identity.

Third-party Components Included:

Note that a compiled version of the PHP XML-RPC dependency is included in the oa_dist.zip package (in oa_dist/oa/xml-rpc/xmlrpc_blob.php), along-side a copy of the license text governing its use.