RE: [Phpwebsite-developers] Roadmap

[Geoff S. <Ge...@Ho...>]

Here's my cut on it:

We need to decide what the final form of the existing phpWebsite will be. It
should be a tool that only works with mySQL and is compatible with php3 and
php4. This product would be "functionally stable". That means bug fixes
only - no further enhancements.

What will happen is this: Folks will continue to use it and they will
continue to write plug-ins for it. So, it will have a life of its own.

If the plug-in scheme for the existing phpWebsite is compatible with the new
product, that would be nice -- but we have to get a certain amount of design
work done to determine if that will be the case. I would not compromise on
the new system to make the plug-in scheme work with both the current and the
new product.

Here's an example of something that could easily make the plug-in system for
the new product incompatible with a plug-in scheme for the existing product:
I mentioned the other day that the core product should include a mailing
list system so that plug-ins can integrate with it. This would allow a
weather plug-in, for example, to have a subscription for emailed weather
updates -- freeze alerts or whatever -- that uses the built-in mailing list
system. ALSO, when someone registers for a login id, they would be presented
a list of email subscriptions, some of which were put there by plug-ins.

The big deal here is this: topics, subtopics, etc. should be setup once and
available to news stories, the links subsystem, discussion forums, and all
plug-ins that require the information. When someone registers, they should
be able to put in their information once and have it used throughout the
system so that their is no duplicate entry of information for each plug-in.
And, just as important, to eliminate duplication of effort by admins setting
up the system.

It may be that the old plug-ins could work in the new system -- they just
wouldn't be able to take advantage of all the plug-in features without some
modification -- but, we won't know that until we have a new system design.

Perhaps, we should design the new system and then upgrade the existing
system so that it will work with the plug-ins for the new system? If that
could be done, we'd have the best of all worlds: An existing system that is
stable, works on php3 and php4, and can be expanded with plug-ins. AND,
those plug-ins would also work with the new system. I think it doubtful that
we could achieve 100% compatibility. But, we'll have to see how it all comes
out.

In any event, this would allow those with immediate requirements to address
them without totally locking themselves into the old system.

Geoff

Geoff Staples,
Hostricity Web Hosting <http://www.hostricity.com/>

-----Original Message-----
From: php...@li...
[mailto:php...@li...]On Behalf Of
Mike Windsor
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2001 10:51 AM
To: php...@li...
Subject: Re: [Phpwebsite-developers] Roadmap


Todd,


> I think Brian will let us know the vote for database abstraction layer by
> Monday, if not before.  This will allow those coding for the current
> structure to continue.

I hope so. :)

> programmers talking on the forums and they're ready to start coding.
Others
> of us are ready to redesign.  Am I making any sense?  Am I the only one
over
> here or not?

I agree and I am ready to start with some plugins as soon as we get a
standard.


Has anyone heard anything?

Mike


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