Hello,
Being new to ApacheDS (and LDAP), I thought I would try the latest
version, which was 1.5.2, using the new Mac OS X installer. The main
link from the home page takes you to the version 1.5 series, so I
thought I was relatively safe starting here. Some suggestions from my
experiences follow - all in the spirit of improving the product:
* Mac OS X installer: there was no option to change the install
location and no indication during the installation process where
it was installed. The default location (/usr/local/apacheds...)
is reasonable, but people like (and sometimes require) choices.
It took me some time to figure out where it was installed and that
it was already running, but on a non-default port.
o Either make this statement (where things are installed) loud
and clear to your audience in the docs or add an option to
change the installation location in the Mac installer - and
any other installers that don't have this option yet.
o Also, I would also like to see an option in the installer
that allows me to choose whether or want I want it added to
the boot sequence.
* The next issue, I've seen a few posts about now, is that the
conf/server.xml is not the one you need to modify, but rather the
one under instances. Please make this statement loud and clear to
your audience in the docs.
* The server.xml syntax changed between 1.5.1 and 1.5.2. This seems
like a deviation from the version numbering policies at Apache,
but I could be wrong. I would not expect to see a change in
configuration syntax at this level of version numbering. I had
trouble matching up several examples on the net with the new
syntax, but eventually got some basic changes to take place.
Perhaps this release should have been numbered 1.6?
o Even if code isn't quite there yet, I suspect a lot of
people are spending too much time on this wondering why
their changes aren't taking affect. Please make this known
loud and clear to your audience in the docs.
FYI, I have since gone back to version 1.0.2 and have had far fewer
issues. I know these things will get resolved in future versions, but I
am guessing that more than a few people are getting a "less than good"
taste in their mouths after trying out the latest versions. Finally, I
am not sure I would have the most prominent ApacheDS link (on the home
page) pointing to version 1.5.x at this point. That should be for those
willing to tolerate code that is ready for prime time IMHO.
Cheers,
Rich
