OpenURU.org Resources & Tools

[JWPlatt]

A natural outgrowth of project discussions is the formation of outlines to document and achieve the goals being discussed. Now that a wiki is available here, may I suggest that these outlines, which are currently representing your collaborative efforts, be organized and placed into the wiki as a work in progress? It might make more sense to use a collaborative tool in parallel than to use linear posts to take turns updating outlines arising from discussions. The discussions can resolve points which then go into the documentation (wiki). Additionally, remember that anyone not using these forums can still contribute to the wiki and your projects. That's just one "open" part of OpenURU.org. The right tool for the right job, as they say, with the resources at hand. OpenURU.org is not just another forum.

If the wiki is not the right tool for you, please feel free to recommend other collaborative tools which would help your projects.

[AprakOfAtys]

It would be great if these forums were blessed with rss. I usually find forums way to difficult to follow becaus of too many divergent threads going on at the same time. On the other hand Wikis have the disadvantage of easily becoming too pretentious. One only reads the pages through once (at most).

Speaking of Wikis, on the odd end there's Oddmuse (http://www.oddmuse.org/cgi-bin/oddmuse). It's really not odd at all and actually quite good.

[Mac_Fife]

Any thoughts on having a "custodian/editor" for each wiki article - just to kind of moderate and distill the input on the "discussion" tab into the full article page?

Edit: Possibly want to edit "MediaWiki:Sidebar" and add a link back to the forums?

[carterhawk]

My suggestion is to move user management for the entire site to LDAP or simliar, then have the wiki, the forum, and any other modules use that same database for authentication. This might involve creating a custom registration page that creates and manages users in the database, or pointing all the modules to use one of their registration pages (ie, clicking register in the wiki takes you to the forum registration). You would also need to ensure that some kind of single-sign-on was setup so once someone logs into the site, they don't get asked to sign on again and again.

[Mac_Fife]

My suggestion is to move user management for the entire site to LDAP or simliar, then have the wiki, the forum, and any other modules use that same database for authentication.

I think common authentication was suggested elsewhere. However JWPlatt has already stated that he would prefer to keep everything in their "vanilla" installation form, as it eases the process of applying security updates, etc., as they become available, and I agree, for example, that updating a heavily modded phpBB install gets a bit scary, and for similar reasons that's why there's been no particular effort to "skin" the forum or wiki. I don't think OpenURU.org was ever intended to be a particularly aesthetically impressive website; rather a collection of tools/resources that could be utilised by people who had a project in mind, but lacked time, knowledge, resources to set up something for themselves.

In due course, I guess if JW finds the time and there's sufficient interest expressed in things like simplified user authentication, then these things can still happen, but speaking personally I wouldn't call it high priority.

[JWPlatt]

I am continually impressed by Mac_Fife's ability to "get it" and he is exactly right with every word.

The priority is to offer resources for a diverse set of projects to achieve their purpose. Success lies in a functional community of projects sharing ideas, influencing each other, and getting things done in a way better than they could do alone.

I will add that anyone with a project can obtain an OpenURU.org subdomain to make a functional and attractive website for their own project if they desire.

OpenURU.org is open to suggestions about such things as RSS or wiki administration so long as the process can assume easily maintained systems by transient volunteers. I intend to offer positions of management for such things when I see where things are headed and what should be done. I agree that RSS and wiki administrators are useful. When OpenURU.org is solidly established and a bigger picture emerges, only then should we start to look at the benefits and expenses of higher integration.

In the meantime, no one needs to wait for me to ask you to do things. If you are a motivated self-starter with an idea or see a need for a position to fill, and you think you are the right person for the job, feel free to offer yourself as a solution. As a good example, I'll just point to rarified who, on his own initiative, set up a bugtracker software test system and coordinated with me some technical details to make it available on the OpenURU.org domain.

[Mac_Fife]

I am continually impressed by Mac_Fife's ability to "get it" and he is exactly right with every word.

Thanks, JW. But I guess I should also apologise for diving in and presuming to speak on your behalf

I guess it's also worth adding: Please continue to make suggestions for improvements or additional tools. "Brainstorming" is all about letting ideas flow, without restraint. Just don't be upset if the idea doesn't get taken up right away

[JWPlatt]

Bugtracking.

The System Concepts' "Speaking of Bugzilla..." thread has been inactive for five days. In this case, it probably means everything has been said which will be said - at least for now - and it's time to do something about it. As you know, this is a place for doing things. I have looked around a lot myself and the only software which gets better reviews than Mantis for bug tracking comes with a price tag.

Frankly, I have more faith in the longevity of Open Source than in for-profit or pseudo-open companies which, when they go down, take their product and support down with them. The Mantis site also says, "Mantis supports native integration with CVS and Subversion (SVN). In addition it can integrate with other configuration management applications via Scmbug (a Perl open source application)." So those things are there too if we ever need them. Mantis did not always have Version Control System (VSC) integration, so that's good to see.

So it's time to do. Mantis is it, unless there are any significant objections, until something better comes along which fits the requirements here.

Here's the question. Which subdomain seems proper to you?

Mantis.OpenURU.org
Bugtrack.OpenURU.org
Bugtracking.OpenURU.org
Bugtrackker.OpenURU.org
BugsBunny.OpenURU.org (open for second choice listing only)

(or something else?)

[rarified]

How about even simpler: bugs.OpenURU.org

[JWPlatt]

Heh. I like short names. I actually listed it as a chocie, then thoughts better of it because it seems to infer bugs within OpenURU.org itself. But if it is a preeminently popular suggestion, I'll go with the flow. And it goes along nicely with the bunny, too. A shame we couldn't use him as a mascot.