3 projects at Google's Summer of Code
3 student applications for projects in the Horde Project have been accepted by Google's Summer of Code 2006 program: an LDAP browser/manager, a Live CD, and "Wandering Books".
Jonathan Burchfield will be working on an LDAP module for the Horde Application Framework:
These are the current features grouped by release:
Release One - Basic read-only functionality
- Tree view of LDAP data
- Below the tree view, a list of attributes for the currently selected node
- Horde administrator specifies the LDAP server connection information in the configuration
- LDIF Export
Release Two - Improved read-only functionality
- Treeview of LDAP data with AJAX to load children when parent nodes are expanded
- List of attributes for the currently selected node loaded with AJAX
- Searching for nodes by name or attributes
- Horde administrator can specify a list of LDAP servers clients may connect to and/or allow the user to enter server information manually.
Release Three - Write functionality
- Context menus in the tree view with options to edit node, 'go into' node by making it the root of the viewable tree, move/copy node somewhere else, delete node
- Import LDIF files
Soumyadip Modak is going to create a Horde Live CD:
The Horde Live CD is a bootable Live CD that can be used for demonstration purposes. This CD will have a complete installation of all the Groupware modules of Horde. Once it has booted, it will startup a lightweight desktop environment and open up a browser which can be used to log-in to the Horde system on the CD.
The Horde Live CD will be based on one of the existing Live CDs (Knoppix, Morphix, Ubuntu) so that the Horde Project does not have to maintain the base distro. Choice of base Live CD distro has been kept open so as to try out all the alternatives available and to use the best maintained and supported distro.
The Horde Live CD will run MySQL, Apache and Postfix. The POP/IMAP server will be one from the following : Cyrus, Courier, Dovecot. To show off the capabilities of the Horde Groupware modules, the best integrated server will be chosen.
Groupware Modules will be included on the Live CD. The following modules are to be included: IMP, Ingo, Sork, Kronolith, Mnemo, Trean, Turba and Nag. The suitability of Gollem as a featured module, on a Live CD has to be investigated. Chora and Whups will not be included in the Live CD, but can be added later if necessary.
Web-based configuration, e.g. Webmin, etc. will be integrated unless there is no time left under the Summer of Code timetable for testing the integration of the Live CD. This will be more crucial if the Live CD includes the ability to be installed onto a hard disk. The web-based configuration tool will be primarily focused at configuring the network as well as the underlying servers (Apache, MySQL, Postfix, IMAP server).
If time permits, the possibility of including scripts to automate the installation of the Live CD onto the hard disk will be investigated (similar to hd-install for Knoppix)
Luciano Ramalho had the idea of a "Wandering Books" application based on Horde:
ABOUT WANDERING BOOKS
The goal of this project is to create a web application to allow anyone to turn their personal book collection into a lending library. There are some commercial and free implementations of the basic idea, but WANDERING BOOKS will take the concept much further: it will not be a personal library manager, but rather a distributed community library manager.
WHAT IS A DISTRIBUTED COMMUNITY LIBRARY?
It's simply the collection of all books belonging to you and to your friends which are available for lending. The catalog of such a library is the union of the catalog of each user's personal collection plus her/his friends personal collections. This is the 'union catalog', and it is different for each user who has a different set of friends.
SOME USER INTERACTIONS
- catalog her books, by typing or scanning ISBNs
- invite friends, who will have access to her books
- search her union catalog
- tag, comment, recommend and rate books in the union catalog
- ask to borrow a book
- approve lending of a book
- get e-mail remembering to return a book, or to ask for a book which is overdue
LIBERATED BOOKS
Users will be able to liberate some or all of their books. A liberated book becomes the property of the community and available to all users of the system; it is immediately tagged as being 'held' by its ex-owner. A liberated book can be held by anyone as long as no one else wants to borrow it. If you are holding a liberated book and another person asks for it, you are required to give it up within a certain number of weeks (proportional to the number of pages?).
