[Calendarserver-discuss] Free Software calendaring and groupware (in and beyond Debian)

[Guido Günther]

Hi,
On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 03:28:46PM +0200, Paul Boddie wrote:
> On Tuesday 20. October 2015 08.30.51 Guido Günther wrote:
> > > 
> > > Is there a consensus about improving Debian's calendaring and groupware
> > > offerings, and does Debian offer a venue where such Free Software
> > > offerings can be developed and enhanced - a bit like the way Debian
> > > offers FreedomBox such a venue - to become a more obvious choice for
> > > people wanting to take advantage of such functionality?
> > 
> > Although the next meeting/sprint is several months off we have s.th. in
> > Debian that's exactly for these kinds of topics:
> > 
> >     https://wiki.debian.org/GroupwareMeeting2015-04-24to26
> >     https://wiki.debian.org/Groupware
> 
> Yes, I've edited this last page once or twice. I guess what I'm missing is 
> whether there's a strategy for delivering groupware components that get people 
> started easily, whether that is just to use this kind of functionality or 
> whether it is to develop related solutions.

To "get started easily" the "all in one solutions" itself that are
already packaged or on their way into Debian (e.g. sogo, zarafa) might
be a good pick but I think that's not what you're after.

I'm not aware of someone working on integrating different parts that
cover e.g. different areas (e.g. mail, contacts, calendar) at the moment
to have a easy start solution. There have been some efforts on the DGMs
though to improve on this situation (including myself working on simpler
calendaring setup).

> A bit of context here: I've been writing components that integrate with MTAs 
> to handle calendaring messages, and aside from the conventional usage of such 
> things to handle person-to-person scheduling, there's also the potential for 
> developing automated solutions for scheduling. Kolab provides a daemon for 
> this kind of thing called Wallace, and I imagine other solutions do similar 
> things.

Nice.

> However, very few solutions actually seem to describe their architecture in a 
> way that makes it obvious how people might develop these things further, 
> especially in a way that is independent of a particular solution or technology 
> stack. I'd hoped that people had done things "the Unix way" in the past and 
> that I'd find mail-related tools that dealt with calendar messages and other 
> things, but it seems like an area where everybody does their own
> thing.

I think you're right on that one although it would be nice to improve in
that area.

> 
> > There's also the #debian-groupware IRC Channel on freenet.
> 
> I may drop in, although I don't usually find IRC particularly productive.
> 
> > I for myself am currently using calypso for calendaring (and somewhat
> > for contacts). I intend to look into CalDavZAP/Infcloud to get this web
> > based too.
> 
> Which calendar client do you use, if I may ask? I've looked at Kontact, 
> Lightning/Iceowl and Claws (with calendar plugin), and they each have their 
> strengths and weaknesses. I also have some experience with Roundcube's 
> calendar plugin for Kolab, and I've seen what things like Horde (with 
> Kronolith) offer. I've even developed some Web-based functionality of my own, 
> which has been informative.

I'm using Iceowl (standalone and in Thunderbird) and syncevolution (for
the phone).
Cheers,
 -- Guido