I think it is time I wrote as to what my vision for Swiki is and how I
see others fitting into it.
You may have noticed that I still consider Swiki betaware. To me, this
means that I am not guaranteeing anything and I am free to change any
code I like. I feel that Swiki needs a strong, flexible and elegant core,
before I officially release it. Right now, I don't feel this to be the
case. The code in SwikiRequest, security, initialization, and talking to
Comanche needs to get cleaned up. At the same time, the admin swiki also
still needs major work and the uploads area could use some work too.
Until I am satisfied with these areas and a few others, I will not
officially release Swiki. Right now, I'm estimating that there will not
be a Beta 13. Probably, the difference between Beta 12 and Release 1 will
be bug fixes and better documentation.
What does this mean for the larger community of swiki developers? We have
been having the problem that people are diverging from the code and then
not being able to upgrade to the newest code. For instance, Swiki.net
diverged so early that the code is probably very incompatible. Probably,
Bert and Bijan are facing the same problems. So, this seems to me like
the best strategy for this development to be productive for everyone:
Phase I (Before Release 1)
1) Let me know what you'd like to see in the core software. By this I mean
things like Bert requesting that it be possible to do partial returns.
2) Let me know what problems you are having with implementing new features.
For instance, lack of documentation (besides asking Bijan), not being
able to fully support a different language in just files, etc.
3) Forgive me that some of your code may not work in an upgrade. Although,
messing around in templates, actions, settings, etc. will probably be
okay.
Phase II (After Release 1)
1) We need new packages. So far, I have refs, docs, and forward packages.
Once the core is stabilized, creating new packages (or goodies) will
become essential. I know that Bijan is working on a new formatter. I
would like for goodies like these to be just as available as the
standard packages.
2) We need more tools. I realize that working with FileList is not
particularly pleasant. One tool we could definitely use is something
that allows for easier editing of templates, actions, etc. I feel it
is a bit premature to work on this before the core has settled. But,
after release 1, these types of tools would be great.
3) We could use other storage mechanisms. Right now, XML is hard coded in,
but other things such as databases might make some sense.
So, I hope that gives sort of a vision of where Swiki is going in the not
too distant future.
Thanks for all your help,
Je77
