[cumbria_lug] LUG radio & GPL in court

[trevor at haven.demon.co.uk]

schwuk at schwuk.com wrote:

> I'm going to be going down to Wolverhampton at some point to take part 
> in another recording/one of their LUG meetings, and they want to come up 
> here and record at one of our meetings (as part of the so-called 'world 
> tour' *grin*). Would people be up for taking part in that?
> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Schwuk - http://www.schwuk.com
Oh yeah, That could be, err, interesting.

Schwuk's Dilemma

I'm in process of writing YACMS (Yet Another Content Managment System), 
but before I get too far into the development I need to overcome a 
dilemma I'm having...

Is it better to design technically, or for portability?

For my YACMS, my preference would be to use PostgreSQL over MySQL as 
that would allow me to use the DB features I'm used to, but I believe 
(hope) other people may want to use it. I'll be using a DB extraction 
layer like PEARs DB, so porting between DBs should be straight forward, 
but it's the database features I want to design for, not a particular 
database. The project will be OSS, so people can change it as they see 
fit, but I don't really want to lock out non-developers either.

So, should I go the technical high road or the portability low road?


Schwuk, I am looking into this area too and I have plumped for using 
PHP with MySQL as most (Linux) web hosting provides that combination. 
Very few provide postgreSQL.   I guess if you have your own servers
it is a matter of personnal preference. 

It is better to design with functionality as the primary objective.
portability in this area means relying on the availability of the
database and currently MySQL is well out in front in the web host
area.  Some places like portland do not even grant access to perl!

The clincher for me was availability on relativly cheap web hosts.
I could not choose to use the 'high road' proposal on my web space
as neither postgreSQL or Perl are available.

Technically, as long as it gets the job done, is secure and
runs reasonably quickly I'm happy.  I choose the tool for
the job, not the job for the tool.  I am also grabbing every bit
of pre-wrote script and modifying it for my use as I really do
not re-invent the wheel, The idea of 'not re-inventing the wheel'
is one of the least practised, most preached ideas in computing.
The only good reason to re-invent the wheel is to discover how
it works, if you want to build a cart use someone elses wheel.
So do you want to write a CM because you need a CM ? or because
you want to WRITE a cm ? Do you need new features ? have you
looked at the available CM's to see if one that fits your
requirements (even partly) and is available under an open source
licence ?  What options are available from your Hosting 
company ?  Since we are both working on similar projects
would you be interested in a joint project ?

Would people be interested in a LUG project ?  We could use 
the system on our lug site (depending on what resources are
available).

My target uses include allowing assorted club members to
upload/update content to the site which means having a password
based login, the ability to create accounts and passwords
by a limited number of members (The commitee) 
and some screening of uploaded material. 
I will need a modified voting/poll system to allow people
to see what games are on offer and to sign-up as players,
Or select what games they would like to see run.
Some users will need to delete content and I need to
auto-generate some content to keep the links upto date.  I have
got a script that translates email addresses into hex too.

I also have a discordian date script in PHP come to think about it.

I will be organising some live web space next week (pay-day) 
with PHP and Mysql database access for testing purposes. I will
probably run the live site from this space too. I have a budget
of £80 p.a. from the club concerned for web hosting. The current
site at http://www.sasrafrp.co.uk is very poor and out of date.
Since I am a member of the club I may pay an extra 1.99/month for
the web space and run some stuff of my own there too.


Schwuk then posted ----
I've replied back to Jono about approaching Advance, who run the fairs 
in the North West.

Would people be up for staffing these if they go ahead?

Trevor asks "Do you mean the fairs up in Carlisle?" aren't they
just an excuse for disreputable firms to sell poor quality or broken
computers and stolen property? Do SCO know about this? Do they
sell a licence for it?

--
Trevor, 
Hard Livin', Hard drinkin', Womenising, Hellraiser!
Or I would be if my wife would let me.