Big Mama Email & Jason's Status

[Jason Pincin <chardros@linuxkb.org>]

OK - as some people may have noticed, I've been somewhat quiet for a
while.  This is NOT because I haven't been very active or involved.  Quite
the contrary.  I've been workin my but off.

However... I vow to make what has passed my last coding sabattical (sp?).
Quietness is not a Good Thing (tm).  I got a little too deep into code...
and for that I appologize.  But fear not... from here on out you'll
probably be wanting me to shut up.  :).  You'll hear a lot more from "The
Fearless Leader", and a lot more things are going to be happening.  With
my latest commit to CVS, the fruit of my sabattical, I feel all pieces of
the underlying architecture that need to be in place in fact are.

I committed last night, and then again after a few bugs were squashed...
and again... and again this morning... and then one more time... but I
believe (or so it appears) everything is working OK now.

You may have noticed you were mailed new passwords for dev.linuxkb.org.
As part of my commit last night the site's authentication methods have
changed.  All authentication is now going through the php objects, and
render.php3.  I won't go into every detail on how the security system
works in this email... that can have it's own email cuz it can do a LOT.
But next time you visit the site, you'll see a change.  

I've added a few new functions that you guys requested.  Here's the list
(I think this is complete):

print_url()
print_child_url()
move_object()
$current_user->has_access() (the has_access method of user objects)

I'll be documenting these things outside of this email.  No later than
Monday (after's Sunday's meeting) good documentation should be available,
until then - read the src luke.  Others are welcome to document too :).

In addition to those, I updated a lot of the object code, added new hidden
functions (not for use outside the object), etc to enable security for
everything.  I fixed some inconsistancies on Vodka's DB.  New error
checking revealed some invalid stuff there... so along with CVS checkouts,
make sure you re-sync your DB.

Some of these changes broke Aaron's DevBall as he mentioned.  He's working
on getting an update out, and he'll notify you as soon as it's available.
Fear not!  ;)

So what will I be doing next?  My gawd, the go-live date is in sight
people.  We're close.  Can you feel it?  :)

I'll be finall breaking away from functions.php3, etc. and doing a slew of
other things:

As I mentioned earlier... lots of talking.  In addition to hanging out on
IRC all the time, and being a list hound (all in the name of helping you
guys along - SO ASK QUESTIONS), I'll be attacking the subjects on the ODE
list - Aaron sent out the subsciption information.  Lotsa good stuff -
very active.  I'll be working on publicizing us more.  I'll be tightening
the riegns on managment of this project.  Don't get angry if I get on your
case :)

I'll also be taking an active role in developing the pages that will
actually use all this fundamental code I've been writing.  Aaron is
putting a lot of work into getting content into the DB, etc so we actually
have something to look at at go-live.  I'll be building web-tools to make
that easier.  Then I'll be working with Dan & Micah on Article related
tools, user related tools, and the pages to render all that stuff.  As a
side benefit - this will mean a lot more examples will be available for
you guys to look at to see how all this stuff is actually used.  

MAKE SURE you continue to report back with any progress you make, and
where your running into problems.  I can't stress enough how available I'm
going to be to help.  In addition to that, I'll be re-instating an old
tradition - more regular IRC meetings.  Communication going forward is
key.  If you avoid such things, we'll have no choice but to NOT count on
you.  But this is a Good Thing (tm).  Also, knowing what you guys are upto
makes it easier to formulate weekly progress reports to news site.
publicity is important.  We're not missing this deadline - which in case
you were unaware is Fed. 1.  OR SOONER.  I'm shooting for sooner... but
thats where it's written in stone.

Which happens to be perfect timing.  For those non-irc-junkies, it looks
very likely that LinuxKB will have a presence at the New York Linux World
Expo.  That starts the 2nd.  Very nice timing isn't it???  :)  Thanks
SEUL!

And of course, we have a few developers getting together this Sunday, in a
session hosted by me at my employers office.  

Now is a very exciting time for this project.  Get excited!  We've been
working very hard for a very long time (some say too lng :)).  We're about
ready to give something that I think we all feel is very signifigant back
to the community.  Rejoice and be Merry!  But we need to REALLY buckle
down for the next two weeks.  Lets make this happen.

I'm done ranting now.  :)

Please send any questons regarding ANYTHING in this email, especially the
new stuff I've introduced by way of the list.  And you can of course
always join in on some IRC fun.  See how much we can distract Aaron from
his "real" job :).

Almost forgot to mention.. if you see Dan/lexicon around, feel free to bug
him with questions too.  I've found that he has a VERY good understanding
of the way the objects work, and especially the backend DB.  Thanks Dan!
:)

Have a good one.


-- 
Jason
http://vodka.linuxkb.org/~chardros