[Andy Rutter] | | > - should NOT use CGI | | Disagree. Java, etc. have their place, but not in a simple admin | interface. I've yet to see a simple application done in Java that | couldn't have been implemented just as effectively in HTML forms, | JavaScript and CGI. CGI may be relatively slow, but I don't think | we're talking about high-performance applications here.
as I've said before in an earliler mail today; I find CGI extremely limiting in that it imposes an offline session-by-session way of dealing with your data. I have been developing applications that use this for nearly 4 years now and I have to admit that I have written code that I am downright ashamed of on occasions just to overcome the limitations in CGI. if we are to create a GUI it should at least be an interactive one. not a session-by-session one. (did I mention how much I hate the Netscape way of administrating servers? :-) | Something like the Netscape admin UI should be our initial target, | leaving the more esoteric until later. I think we can, and should, do a better job than that. | > - should have a user interface layer that is separated from the | > "engine". | | Agree. The hard part of defining the Apache Admin UI will be in the | API to admin functions. The CGI/whatever code MUST NOT hack directly | on the config files. I agreee. | > - should be written in a language that actually works | | Agree - C or Perl. I was trying to say "forget Java". for the server parts I think C is probably the only viable option. Perl might be a solution as a tape-and-chewing-gum solution in the interim, but managers often have a strong distaste for scripting languages like Perl and Tcl. and if this is to be a success we need people to use it. | In addition, SNMP capability would be useful. I'm running a project | that will see 150+ Apache server installed in remote locations, with | non-computer-literate users (assuming that the NT version comes | together within the timescale). The project will not work unless | there is a way of doing remote administration. good idea. this could be implemented in a mod_snmp on Apache httpd. and then have either the configuration server or the client (or both) talk to it. | Some time ago, I made a start on a HTML/CGI admin interface for | Apache. But, as it wasn't a customer project, it got put on the | back-burner in favour of something that paid money! you are not alone :-) -Bj�rn -- Bj�rn Borud <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | "The Net interprets censorship <URL:http://www.pvv.unit.no/~borud/> | as damage and routes around it." UNIX person, one of "them" | - John Gilmore
