I have some questions for the Perkeep community to gauge interest in a recalibration of Perkeep's scope.
Perkeep is the most complete system that understands CAS and file indexing. Its schema/camliTypes and related signing systems are simple yet allow great extensibility. The CLI, importers, mobile/web apps, encryption and redundant syncing systems are all non-trivial in their own right and have been implemented with the future in mind. I've looked across a range of other systems (IPFS, Syncthing, Seafile, Gluster', Upspin', Filestash etc.), and Perkeep is by far the best match for what I am looking for. Some file/data management scenarios are not served well by solutions anywhere. I have some high-level suggestions below, but I'd like to hear your general views on whether there is a need for more features in the personal data management space that Perkeep inhabits. Do people in the Perkeep community see any opportunities to extend Perkeeps core purpose or scope in general? There are lots of great things in perkeep, and there are many fundamental things that should never change: - the beliefs described on perkeep.org - content addressed storage - objects, not files + claims and schema system etc - the indexing system - how it is managed, extended etc. - the ecosystem, including importers and the UIs - focus on open formats and protocols My thoughts on a new capability for Perkeep include the following two things, with hopefully minimal impact on existing components. These two things wouldn't be trivial, but they could increase the reach of this platform. 1. keeping some form of metadata on all data everywhere, where the data itself isn't stored in blob storage. Allow users to see this data in a familiar file hierarchy and control smart-ish import rules for these files via a Perkeep management UI. If nothing else, this one thing would lower the threshold for those wishing to start Perkeep. 2. include additional classifying, tagging and handling data rules based on contextual information about where the 'file' came from. I'd guess that the typical responses would be a combination of these things (just hopefully more of the latter): 1. Perkeep is already covering the essential features; if not, then Upspin et al. do. 2. This will make the system so much more complicated that it will become unmaintainable or unmarketable 3. This might help grow the user community leading to more significant contributions and general support. I've kept this brief because there is a good chance that Perkeepers may not be motivated to change Perkeep - no blame if that is the case. However, if there is some interest in discussing this topic, I'd like to be involved. I have ideas for integrating such new functionality without polluting the existing components and related new formats and protocols. What are your thoughts on expanding the scope of Perkeep to include new features or capabilities? Are there any specific areas where you would like to see Perkeep grow? Cheers Mike -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Perkeep" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/perkeep/0f3a3d12-5e76-46f7-80e2-43c9e9ce6509n%40googlegroups.com.
