On Thu, Jun 02, 2005 at 11:35:09AM -0700, Paul Querna wrote:
> Shorter Term List:
> * Remove automake dependency (pure autoconf+Makefile.in)

Yes, this is a condition before any release given my -1 for automake.  =)

> * Rename mod-mbox-util. (mboxutil? something else?  All I know is that
> the current name will change)

I'm not a fan of 'busybox' style programs.  I think that style of programming
makes it too difficult for people to understand as the program tries to do too
much.  However, I won't push too hard.

> * Update trunk/scripts to use mod-mbox-util

These should be done in concert with updating the mod_mbox install on ajax.
Perhaps this is something we can coordinate at the ApacheCon Hackathon next
month?  (Honestly, I probably won't have the full two-three days to
re-initializing everything until ApacheCon.)

> * Add some *basic* documentation on configuration
> 
> Longer Term Things:
> 
> * Interface.  This is a SoC project.  We need some thoughts on if we
> want to use some kind of Theme system (eg, ClearSilver or XSLT) or stick
> with hard coded HTML.  I think a massive addition of CSS is a given, but
> the details are still up in the air.

Yup.

> * Searching.  This is a SoC project.  I do have some of the low level
> indexing bits done for Lucene4c in trunk.  We need further discussion if
> we want to even use Lucene4c.  Some have suggested using Postgres or
> MySQL with their full text indexing tools.  Personally, I like using
> Lucene4c since it runs right off the file system, and is a
> eat-your-own-dog-food type thing.

Part of the intention with mod_mbox was not to be tied to a relational
database.  So, I'm against MySQL or Postgres being mandatory in any form.
Lucene4c is by far the best solution and eating our dog food is goodness.

> * General Design.  Currently, mod_mbox is tied to a single .mbox file,
> or optionally, a directory of .mbox files.  As we add searching and
> improve the interface, we will want the ability to search all mailing
> lists, a single list, or maybe all lists under a domain.  This means
> mod_mbox needs a knowledge of what other lists exist.  This is really
> about turning mod_mbox into a 'Mail Archive Application' vs just
> something that runs off of mbox files.  There are advantages and
> disadvantages to both directions.  For the ASF's use cases, I believe
> making it more of a unified application is good.

I feel a lot of the power of mod_mbox comes from its core simplicity.  

I'm ambivalent about joining everything together in a 'single' application.
In the past when we did searching (via htdig, etc.), we kept that disconnected
from mod_mbox.  I'm not sure why searching means that we have to have a 'Mail
Archive Application.'

So, I would really want to see a lot of thought into why we'd go from a
handler based module into an incredibly more complicated (and error-prone!)
catch-all system that would override Apache's file logic (groan!).  -- justin

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