I have a dream... project. A Catalyst Application Server (i.e. Websphere, Weblogic, JBoss in javaland).
It would be a catalyst app for managing and deploying other catalyst apps. It would take care of starting separate perl processes ("virtual servers"), plug them into Apache/lighttpd config files (fcgi, mod_perl), or maybe even run the app in the same shared perl process where the catalyst app server is running. It would allow developers and admins to manage their apps (start/stop/restart), deploy .par/.tar/.zip files that would then be expanded into the app server directory, setup dbi datasources, have a common security realm, maybe a simple communication layer in between apps, etc. Web-console, web-service and CLI enabled. Well, you get the idea. I think it may appeal to a student to write something like this. It has good visibility. It scales well as a project, it could start as something simple, to fit the Summer of code timeline, then allow for extensions to be writen later. It wouldn't mess with Catalyst internals, which IMO makes it easier to tutor. It's something that would help sell Catalyst as a corporate-wide application infraestructure, or for webserver providers to manage installed apps, or simply for us mortals to manage our scattered cat apps from a central control panel. -rodrigo
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