Roadmap for ldapmodule

[Michael <mi...@st...>]

HI!

I see a strong need for a defined roadmap for python-ldap. The
current situation on the web pages looks rather confusing for users
of the ldapmodule.

Some suggestions (and I hope some silent readers of this list jump
into this discussion):

1. Module names (high priority):
--------------------------------
When renaming was done from ldap to _ldap I did not thought about it
thoroughly enough. But now it seems to me that it breaks a lot of
existing code and produces much confusion when updating. There are
some web articles describing example code etc., too (e.g.
http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-01-2000/swol-01-ldap3_p.html).
E.g. S.u.S.E. delivers ldapmodule 1.5 with their Linux distribution
and it's much easier to explain users how to upgrade if the old
naming is used.

Please, rename _ldap back to ldap and rename Fog's stuff to
LDAPObjects, ldapobj, ldaplib or a similar name since Fog's stuff is
not widely used or documented up to now.

2. CVS (high priority):
-----------------------
The CVS repository is not very clear for newbies who don't know the
history.

ldap-module/

Seems to be the old stuff. We should get rid of this directory
completely to avoid confusion.
 
python-ldap/ldaplib/
python-ldap/ldapmodule/

These both directories should be at top of CVS tree since the
project is already called python-ldap. A sub-directory python-ldap/
seems redundant if ldap-module/ is removed. BTW: ldapmodule and
ldaplib should be distributed in separated release packages.

IMHO the CVS repository could be simplified and expanded to

htdocs/
ldaplib/
ldapmodule/
applications/
demos/

New directories applications/ and demos/ should be created for
existing applications (e.g. Fog's lappo going into
applications/lappo/) and small example code snippets for tutorial
purpose going into demos/.

3. Release of C-module (high priority):
---------------------------------------
Make a new stable, well tested and compatible release of the C
ldapmodule AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and publish it on the SourceForge web
page. Especially the fixes for memory leaking etc. are important for
serious application developers. This could contain Fog's stuff
marked as still being experimental.
This is highly needed as a base for package maintainers like
mir...@in... (see Red Hat-packages on
http://www.webideal.de/ldap/) or S.u.S.E (I will trigger them both).

4. SSL (medium priority):
-------------------------
There are a lot of applications where confidentiality of transmitted
data has to be guaranteed => LDAP over SSL is highly needed.
ldapmodule can be linked to Netscape SDK which has SSL support. Also
it's worth looking at OpenLDAP 2.0's new API because this will be
the new standard API for LDAP. Although I can't help with C
programming I can help with investigating the needs for certificate
handling etc.

5. LDAPObjects (low priority):
------------------------------
We have to review Fog's work (hopefully I have the time!) to
establish a standard Pythonish, re-usable and robust class library
for LDAP applications.

6. Distributing with Python's standard lib (low priority):
----------------------------------------------------------
Although G.v.R. seems to be not very open for third-party modules we
should have the goal to integrate the whole python-ldap stuff into
the Python standard distribution because LDAP is a protocol which
gets more and more important for application developers (e.g.
regarding single sign-on environments, Win2000 Active Directory
etc.).

Please, let me know what you think.

Ciao, Michael.