Overview of FlightFeather Releases
==================================
Release 0.2.8 is the current beta of FlightFeather. It added a
test facility to recursively find and run the docstring tests inside
all modules, as well as web function tests based on the Selenium IDE.
Version 0.3.3 (which used to run the bosstats.com site) is the current
development release. It modifies the way FlightFeather server loads
the configuration, protocol, session and storage modules on startup.
The actual loading process now takes place after all options have been
parsed. If the "-c" or "--command" option is present, the server does
not import these modules at all, since they are not required. The new
implementation also fixes a bug, which caused the test versions of the
above modules to always load, in addition to any modules specified on
the command line.
Version 0.3.2 was the previous development release. It updated the
submission feature (which currently supports Digg) from version 0.3.0
(see below). The old behavior was to submit article body text only up
to the first URL in the story. The newer approach submits the maximum
allowed text, including any URLs encountered along the way. In the
future, there may be an option to enable the old behavior, as well as
other, alternative ways to process submissions.
Version 0.3.1 was a development release. It added a safe shutdown
feature to FlightFeather server, eliminating the need for the two-step
shutdown procedure previously described in "QuickStart.txt". The
feature also allows you to stop the server remotely, from a list of
trusted IP addresses (set to just 127.0.0.1 by default).
Version 0.3.0 was a development release. It introduced a feature
that allows easy submission of FlightFeather-hosted content to Digg.
Generic utility functions (see "ui/js/ffextract.js") perform most of
the work, so it should be relatively straightforward to extend support
to other social networking sites in the future.
Releases 0.2.7, 0.2.6 and 0.2.5 were alpha releases (now classified
as development versions).
Release 0.2.7 introduced a complete example site as part of the
distribution. This example is intended as a minimal template, with
all the necessary configuration files for you to build your own
FlightFeather-driven site.
The previous release (0.2.6) fixed a bug in version 0.2.5 (the
first released version of FlightFeather). The bug could result in a
server hang if excessively long (a whole line or more) words appeared
in posts or comments. The current version leaves these long words
intact, but this behavior may change (or become a configuration
option) in future releases.
Known Bugs
==========
Due to Design Tradeoffs
-----------------------
FlightFeather avoids the use of cookies (to allay privacy concerns
of visitors) and page refreshing on login (so that any information the
user may have entered is not lost). This approach does have some
drawbacks, however.
* If you log in, and then refresh the page, or browse away and
then return with the browser's "back" button, the session information
is lost, and you have to log in again. After visiting another page
on the site, the session key will be in the URL, so this is no longer
a problem.
* The session key appears in the URL, which is less secure than using a
cookie.
Other Bugs
----------
* Sessions only expire if there are enough new sessions to push older out
of the cache.
* The URL detection feature for comments and posts can capture extra
characters in some cases, resulting in a broken link.
Available Downloads
===================
The current beta release is "ff-0.2.8-beta". The current
development release is "ff-0.3.3-devel.tar.bz2" It modifies the
way FlightFeather server loads the configuration, protocol,
session and storage modules on startup (see the release notes,
above).
FlightFeather runs under Linux, although it should readily adapt to
other Unix environments, and even Windows. You must have Python 2.5
installed, although later 2.X series Pythons should also work.
FlightFeather uses the prototype.lite library (see
"http://moofx.mad4milk.net/old/documentation/#moofx") and a modified
version of moo.ajax (see "http://www.mad4milk.net/entry/moo.ajax")
These two dependencies are included in the distribution. Compressing the
JavaScript (to reduce loading times) requires the Dojo compressor
(see "http://dojotoolkit.org/") although this software may no longer
be available, at least in the old form required by FlightFeather.
You will also need Apache 2.0 series or higher, and Berkeley DB.
Most recent Linux distributions supply packages for these
applications.
Older Releases
--------------
While the current releases are recommended, you can also download
earlier versions.
* Release "ff-0.3.2-devel.tar.bz2" modified the Digg submission
feature introduced in version 0.3.0.
* Release "ff-0.3.1-devel.tar.bz2" added a safe shutdown feature
to FlightFeather server.
* Release "ff-0.3.0-devel.tar.bz2" introduced a Digg submission
feature.
* Release "ff-0.2.7-alpha.tar.bz2" added a complete example site.
* Release "ff-0.2.6-alpha.tar.bz2" was a bugfix release.
* Release "ff-0.2.5-alpha.tar.bz2" is the oldest available version.
License
=======
FlightFeather is licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL) version 2.
If you run a social networking (or any other) site using FlightFeather,
you can do so freely, without paying any license fees -- no matter how
much you earn from your site. You are also under no obligation to
distribute any changes you make to the software.
If -- and only if -- you do choose to distribute your modifications to
FlightFeather itself, the GPL requires you to release the complete
source code under the same GPL license.
