(Note, I have directed this reply to the mhonarc-dev and mhonarc lists
since mhonarc users may be interested, especially wrt the mhonarc
plans mentoned below. Original author will receive a separate copy
of this reply.)
On June 3, 2002 at 10:41, someone wrote:
What are your plans with MHonArc? I'd like to get all the folks
interested in improving the web archiving options for e-mail lists
together. Who else is a leader in this area?
See all the junk below ...
There was alot of junk :-)
[To summarize in a nutshell, there is a start of a new project,
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/archetype>, related to web-based
email archiving a web-based discussion forums. Discussion
started on do-code(_at_)yahoogroups(_dot_)com list.]
Plans for MHonArc?
First, I want to finalize the MHonArc 2.x codebase. MHonArc has
been around for years, but it is straining the initial design due
to the limitations that Perl 4 imposed when MHonArc was initially
written (note, MHonArc does use some Perl 5 features as it has been
enhanced over the years).
MHonArc 2.x appears to be quite usable for many, but dynamic-type
capabilities (like integration with a database) it was not designed
for. So what I have been doing is modifying MHonArc 2.x to provide
as much as it can to allow for custom hooks (like to a DB) by
providing a public API for embedded usage (see MHonArc docs for
some details). Unfortunatly, some design limitation are very
hard to overcome.
MHonArc 3.x is planned to be a complete rewrite of MHonArc using
an OO model, which can be done with Perl 5. I have even thought
of going to Java (for character encoding management), but would
prefer to stay with Perl if it can support the new design.
I actually made a start years ago, but stopped due to other
priorities and interests. I have been thinking of restarting
the initiative since I now have the MHonArc source under CVS at
savannah.gnu.org. Plus, I currently have more time now to devote
to such a effort. With the repository at savannah, it also
makes it easier to bring on some additional developers (with
the proper skills of course :-)
One nice side-effect of not doing the work years ago is that
the feedback for MHonArc 2.x has provided more things to consider
in the MHonArc 3 design that may have been overlooked. I actually
try to implement what I can in MHonArc 2.x and to use it as
way to prototype some stuff.
The primary goal of MHonArc 3 is to make it as modular as possible
to allow for things like database hooks and custom filtering. I.e.
MHonArc 3 would primarily be a library with a default application
that functions like MHonArc 2.x for those that do not care about
a programmable library.
Initial thought on archetype project:
archetype will probably have similiarities to MHonArc, but it
appears to have overall different scope. For example, I could see
archetype using MHonArc as component of the entire system.
Other "leaders":
The message you sent me appears to cover the major players. The
only project I can think of that was not mentioned is Hypernews,
www.hypernews.org.
There is probably more that can be discussed, but I am not sure
what the entire scope of the project you are trying to organize and
how it will be managed. I have a suspicion that what you hope to
achieve can be achieved by a collection of tools instead of single
monolithic system.
If the base requirements are written down and made available from the
archetype project page, it will help others determine how existing
projects fit, or don't, fit in.
--ewh
P.S. Have thought about what license you want to use for the project?
Your choice could impact on what existing software you can leverage,
unless you want to write everything from scratch.
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