Being as 3.4.6 managed to go out without immediate reports of bugs and problems I have my fingers crossed we may have finally gotten it right. Well close enough at least to be able to focus real attention on the transition to 4.xx.
Here are my goals for the transition: 1) My main goal will be to rewrite the forms processing engine so that all commands have to be executed as session variables (perhaps even [command ... ...] rather than "session"), and make it possible for them to take multiple parameters just like functions. This will allow us to simplify many things, enhance security, and make things a lot easier to use. Though a great improvement all the way around, and simple to do, it will likely require us to examine virtually all of our existing custom forms, and rewrite many of them. This is the main reason for the switch to 4.xx. Unfortunately, this will be a pretty big disruption... 2) While not originally on my radar, Markus suggested some renaming of our installation directories in a recent thread that really resonated with me. It won't be difficult to code, or to implement, but the 4.xx switch is the ideal time to make such a change. Getting the docs caught up might be a bit more challenging! We may even make a few changes to our "brand" and the like to focus more on the idea of "engineering the web" or something. 3) My other goal is to go through the entire source code with a fine tooth comb, and strip out every feature, config option, unused parameter, function, command, conditional, etc., that we possibly can without weakening our core engine. I've grown concerned that BoltWire is getting bigger, slower, and clunkier, rather than leaner and faster. A good while back we broke my self-imposed 100k barrier and I aim to reclaim it. To do this, I will be soliciting feedback from you concerning which parameters and config options you actually use. And which features we could relegate to plugin status without affecting too many sites. My guess is we could strip out half the optional settings and no one would notice. Other than downloads being smaller and things running peppier. But we'll see... 4) While the core will hopefully be slimming down, I also would like to offer a BoltWire Pro release which will consist of the exact same lite core, but with an extra script called community.php, and dozens of additional system pages. This extra script will include 5 or 10 of my favorite plugins fully set up and functional--with real help pages! Things like newsletter, rss, store, tree, and commentbox, and pages for things like email verification, password reminders, profile pages, blogs, forums, and tags. The idea is that the BoltWire Pro will be a ready to go full-featured CMS application. While BoltWire Lite, a bare-bones but fully functional engine for building your own CMS or any other kind of application you want. My plan is to support both, the Lite and Pro versions, as two separate downloads. Possibly with a small fee for the extra Pro features, perhaps on a suggested donation basis. Both Lite and Pro will run on the exact same basic engine, and the Lite version will not be disabled or weakened in any way, and it will remain, as always, free. Here's a few thoughts on the process: I'm not sure the exact process at this point. Once we go to stable 3.5, I will probably start 1) going through the core and trimming things down and simplifying the code for a few releases. To get it as close to ready for 4.xx as possible. Then 2) change the directory structure and form commands in one big blow and call that 4.00. At this point we will freeze the feature set. There will be 3) a few releases to polish off any bugs, (though the code changes won't be significant at this point and bugs should be few) and start patching up skins and plugins, etc. Finally, once I have the new community script and pages ready to go, I will 4) release BoltWire Pro. And spend a few releases trying to get it squeaky clean. At that point, my goal will be to stick with the Lite/Pro feature set for a good long while--only releasing minor maintenance patches. In fact, I'd like to get on aregular release schedule, something like "significant" upgrades no more often than once every six months or a year. Rather than once every week or two... :) Feedback on the goals/process for 4.xx are welcome. As well as any last calls for features you would like to see in BoltWire... Cheers, Dan -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BoltWire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/boltwire?hl=en.
