To: "MWS" <mws@midgard-project.org>
Subject: MWS for 6th of December, 2000 (#53)
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 08:06:46 -0600

Greetings!

Welcome to December! In the US we are all pretty fired up to have a fab new
president, ok... well, its over and that is a good thing as witnessed by the
collective yawn we have heard from across the pond. Christmas looks good in
Midgard land, 1.4 is close to finalized and there is measurable progress
towards 2.0. It looks like Santa's elf, Emile, will have all sorts of
packages for us in a few weeks. At the same time, Ami has some good reading
which will eventually get us to Midgard version 2 in the new year!


Contents:
Editor's Note
Alexander Bokovoy adds to the potential programmer pool
         Sensing the needs of Midgard V2 storage the Bokovoys look to the future
.
1.4 final release targeted for Christmas
        It is close and we are looking for Santa drop off cool toys.
Midgard 2.0 has its first early release.
        Ami Ganguli on where we go from here.





============================
Alexander Bokovoy adds to the potential programmer pool.
----------------------------
All he needs is a laptop and a few diapers and he is on the way. Alexander
reports his son was born on December 5th, he weighed in at 3420g and was
52cm tall. There was no word as to whether Repligard proved useful during
the duplication process. While he has yet to be named I have suggested that
LDAP has a certain progressive ring to it, Alexander 2.0 works too....



============================
1.4 final release targeted for Christmas

Emile has let it be known that Christmas is the target date for the final
release of Midgard 1.4. Santa is promising a few packages, Red Hat,
Mandrake, maybe a little Debian as well as a fine assortment of Tarballs.
Alexander and Alexander 2.0 have gotten most of Repligard done with a little
work on partial import/export and blob export left to consider next week.
Ndemeno Tegomoh has rewritten the older installation guide and his new work
will be included with the final version of 1.4. Also included will be the
new MOVE demo website which is being buffed and polished as we speak. We are
currently in a feature freeze and Emile would be quite pleased if everybody
would try out beta 7 so we can track down whatever bugs are left before we
ship. Somewhere around the 20th, Emile, Alexander and a cast of hundreds
will start assembling the final packages for distribution.



============================
Midgard 2.0 has its first early release.

Ami Ganguli has been working on Midgard 2.0 and has released a very early
release of what will eventually be Midgard 2.0.  While very limited this
release provides a concrete mile-post; marking where 2.0 is and raising
issues which are upcoming. Ami has a specific list, in the release notes, of
what needs are coming and he would welcome help addressing them in the
coming weeks and months.

This early release has a number of important early features, though little
actual functionality. Perhaps most important is an early formation of the
more object based structure which will characterize Version 2. This
modularity has been one of the stated goals for the new version from the
start.  A more modular approach will encourage third party developments, who
would extend and add functionality to Midgard's core, while giving existing
developers more control over their implementation. The release notes also
mention the need to look into the new Php embedding API, alternative data
storage options, multiple data source integration and build systems.

It is clear that this is to be a complete rewrite of the Midgard application
as well as a reconsideration of the manner in which the application does
things. On one hand Ami has a schedule for at least one rewrite from scratch
of the API in the near future; partly to put into practice from what is
being learned from these early versions and partly to get rid of that
wonderful stream on conscious code that I think we have all written at some
point. ( you know that code that meanders from point to point and has
variables named after your coffee cup) On the other hand there is still the
opportunity for feature prototyping and feature refining. Over the last
months there has been a great deal of discussion about what and how the
ideal Midgard would serve our needs, now is the time to start to make sure
that Midgard is what it needs to be.
To that end Ami would appreciate input from us all. Understandably a lot of
people are focused on getting 1.4 out the door and on to new and existing
services. As good as 1.4 is, 2.0 has been a goal for a lot of us for quite
awhile, once 1.4 is running development of 2.0 should be a fairly rapid.
These early pre-alpha versions suggest a great deal for the eventual form
and function of Midgard 2 but they also can be seen as a fluid discussion
that might find new means to the final product.

============================

About Midgard



Midgard 1.4 is a content publishing tool for small and medium sized sites.
It is based on Apache, MySQL and PHP. The application and its documentation
are licensed GPL, LGPL and GFDL. This licensing strategy guarantees that
developers, webmasters, ISPs, and business managers are investing in a
strategy where they're free to share solutions and participate in the
application design.

-> http://www.midgard-project.org



----------------------------



About MWS


The Midgard Weekly Summary is a bi-weekly newsletter

for the Midgard user and developer community,

as well as the extended web community.

If you would like to release it or publish it,

please contact Ken Pooley

(kpooley@sewanee.edu).


Previous issues of Midgard Weekly Summary can

be found archived at the Midgard web site.

-> http://www.midgard-project.org/topic/169.html



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The Midgard mailing list is one of the most vital and

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get answered, suggestions debated and work gets done.

E-mail:midgard@greywolves.org


----------------------------
Places to see Midgard in Action:
http://www.midgard-project.org
http://www.hklc.com
http://www.5fthigh.com/
http://www.linuxde.org/
http://www.hec.nl/
http://www.stonejobs.com/
http://www.cruisexcursions.com/

-More to come


============================