dubuntu-team team mailing list archive

[Charl Wentzel <charl.wentzel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Guys

Thanks Jay.  Please start with a database design, that will be great.
You're welcome to use the Launchpad site to create a blueprint for the
database design.  (https://launchpad.net/~dubuntu-team) That way we
could all edit it.

As far as the webpage is concerned, that is something I could manage
very quickly.  I'm already hosting a few demo sites.  This should work
well while we are in the trail stages.  We could move it to a proper
hosting service when we start getting traffic.

As far as the web page design, I could manage that very easily too.
I've developed a php architecture specifically for ultra thin web client
for database applications.  For something like this it would take me no
more than a day to put it together.  It's not polished yet but I'm
working on it now.  It would a great way to test and improve my
architecture.  All I need is the database design. 

You can have a look at one such demo site here:
http://recosys.no-ip.biz/sawaste 
Username: admin or engineer
Password: same as username
The different users have different access rights, to feel free to try
both.

However, I have no gui (gtk+ or qt) or python experience.  So this is
where you guys could take the lead. How does that sound?

I would stick to the  Linux approach:
step 1: command line tool that gets the job done.  The idea is that we
would create a re-usable library with a clearly defined API.  The
command line tool simply give a plain text front-end
step 2: build a gtk+ front-end for the library that replaces the command
line front-end (as an alternative)
step 3: build the ncurses and qt front-ends.

If each of us take charge of some part of the project and the others
test and comment then we should show much faster progress. Which brings
me to the schedule.  This approach means we could do things in parallel,
which would shorten the schedule significantly.

I think we need to create a separate page on the wiki site to manage the
schedule.  We could add all the things that need addressing and propose
dates, e.g. here's a few things we could add...

1. Finalise blueprint
2. Database design - web page knowledge base
3. Web page - First draft
4. Logo design
5. Package manager blueprint - database choice, database structure,
functional specification, choice of gui libraries, etc, etc...
6. Package manager alpha release

What do you think?

Charl

On Thu, 2009-07-02 at 19:52 +0300, Jay I. wrote:
> hi charl.
> yup, i agree. i think you should create a thread called something like
> 'database structure' for all relevant discussions. i'm gonna setup a
> local mysql server to start playing with a possible layout. as well i'm
> planning to create a simple control panel in php that will allow you to
> manage records and browse the db. i guess we need some free php/mysql
> hosting - don't think that we need something paid at this stage. any
> ideas?
> 
> btw what about this name for the package manager: 'devbuntu package
> manager'. sounds similar to 'synaptic package manager' and quite
> self-descriptive.
> 
> the overall structure of the package management system will consist of
> four ingredients: a central database, a local copy (cache), a lowlevel
> library that will handle actual package management, and ui components -
> one for each ui library that we will support (gtk+, qt, ncurses(?)). if
> you agree i will create a new page in our wiki for all relevant ideas.
> 
> it'd be nice if we create some plan or even schedule to keep things
> under control. what you say?
> 
> regards,
> jay
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, 2009-07-02 at 11:10 +0200, Charl Wentzel wrote:
> > Hi Guys
> > 
> > Thanks!  (Good to hear from you again Jay!)  I think we all got caught
> > up with other things.  At least there now 3 "excited" members.  I
> > started having guilt feelings about this project.
> > 
> > I'll create a few threads for questions to be answered.  The idea is
> > to have a separate thread for each question/issue so things don't get
> > lost.  Just give me some time.
> > 
> > I'm both a bzr and git fan.  Since this is an Ubuntu project I think
> > bzr woudl be the "right" choice.  Also Lauchpad allows hosting of bzr
> > repositories so we don't have to do it ourselves.
> > 
> > I'll have to review the mailing list entries again to see where we
> > left off.  But at this stage the most important thing is to keep it
> > simple.  We should use as much of the existing tools that are
> > available rather than trying to create too many things ourselves at
> > this stage.  That could come later.  If I remember correctly we were
> > talking about kicking off with a simple tool that uses apt packages
> > but with a different database that allows you to build up an
> > environment by picking packages relevant to what you want to achieve.
> > It should be able to show to you what tools work well together and
> > make suggestions based on the experience of advanced users that added
> > there knowledge to the database.
> > 
> > So the whole trick here is creating a knowledge base with a tool that
> > allows you to pull from that knowledge base.
> > 
> > Jay, do you agree?
> > 
> > Charl
>