[school-discuss] Schoolforge software list

[LM <lmemsm@xxxxxxxxx>]

Justin's been busy tried to resurrect the Schoolforge web site with
David's help after there were issues with Drupal security.  Justin
managed to extract the software listing information to CSV.  We
currently have information on over 300 software programs.  We're
trying to find a good method to make the information available and
also keep it secure and easy to edit.  I think one goal at this point
is to avoid having to host a database at the schoolforge site.  It
would be great to find a simpler solution that doesn't require as much
infrastructure as the old method of sharing software listings.   Some
suggestions that were tossed around were to move the information to a
wiki or a github list.

I mentioned that I have a set of software building tools that I use to
build programs from source.  The build system already has a facility
planned for documentation.  So, I could use my build system to
generate a software listing.  It uses a template based system.
Keywords are supplied in a file and it generates entries based on the
template and the keywords.  The look of the template can be changed if
needed.  Another feature is the ability to add descriptions of the
software in multiple languages and have a utility generate a document
based on a requested language.  The output is currently in HTML which
is converted to PDF using wkhtmltopdf.  Drawback to this is that the
information from the CSV file would need to be converted to the format
required by the build tools.  If I already have build scripts (all the
information to build a program from source) for the software, nothing
really needs to be done.  However, for all the applications in our
listing that I don't have build scripts for (and there are several) a
build description file would need to be generated for this to work.
I'm sure there are other tools and other methods that would work as
well.  This method's fairly flexible but others may be easier to use
for data conversion.  Would appreciate any input others might have on
the conversion process.

Does anyone have suggestions, comments, ideas on how to preserve our
software listings information for the newest incarnation of the
Schoolforge site?  Any preferences as to final format for the list
(wiki, HTML, PDF, etc.)?  Any preferences on tools to create an
accessible software list?  Any suggestions on utilities for data
conversion (from CSV to whatever's needed for the final format)?  Some
feedback would be very helpful.
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