[Freedombox-discuss] :Configuration: Next Steps?

[Jonas Smedegaard]

On 11-12-28 at 09:56pm, Nick Daly wrote:
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> Hi folks, I've been thinking of taking on one of three sub-projects for
> the FBX, and was unsure which would be most helpful at this point, or
> (more importantly) if there was anyone else also working on these or
> similar projects?
> 
> 1. Completing/perfecting the dpkg web-config front-end.
> 
>    This seems necessary if we want people to be able to manage their
>    FBXs from the internal web-server, which I think we do.  I know there
>    was mention, on the mailing list, of a project in motion a while ago,
>    but it was incomplete or abandoned, as I recall.

I think working on above would be most beneficial of the three you list, 
because it is linking directly to the Debian packaging work, which means 
after this one is done we should be able to very concretely file 
wishlist bugreports against Debian packages that we want to offer 
certain configuration options for our needs.  Or start package 
meta-packages which hooks into other packages and is interacted with 
from debconf.

Reason tying with Debian developers is so important (in case some 
wonder) is that we then do not need to maintain our FreedomBox specific 
inventions long-term but can pass on the maintainance to Debian.  Debian 
has an obvious interest in adopting such changes as most likely the 
options we need are quite usable in other scenarios as well (think 
FreedomPhone, FreedomServer, FreedomDesktop, etc... for some options and 
funnyBox, whateverBox, etc... for other options).

If you want a bigger challenge than above work on user side of debconf, 
and have some understanding of the inner workings of debconf and the 
Debian Policy regarding config file and conffiles (which are not 
equal!), then I strongly believe that improvements in integrating 
debconf with Config::Model will make it easier to convince more Debian 
developers to use debconf at all. More info on that here: 
http://wiki.debian.org/PackageConfigUpgrade



> 2. Moving the FBX setup scripts to Plinth (if it can yet support system
>    configuration), or another web-frontend (Pylons/Pyramid?).
> 
>    Would Plinth be able to handle the job?  Is anybody else working on 
>    a similar setup-in-the-browser project that I could join?
> 
>    This will need to be done at some point, and my setup scripts are 
>    starting to get too unwieldy for their current form.  I wrote them 
>    in Bash so they'd be easy to hack on; no other reason.  In Bash, 
>    each line *is* the command executed, so it's trivial to change the 
>    scripts' function.  However, their structure is starting to 
>    outweigh their function.  Bash is notably terrible at handling 
>    structure.

If Plinth is designed with debconf integration in mind, it probably 
makes good sense to work on this, as I hear it is in active development.  
If not, I am concerned if it will cause FreedomBox to drift too far from 
Debian, and therefore require more man-power for long-term maintainance. 
Look at the pace of actual development going on now, and imagine the 
slowdown when the contributions needed are more tedious maintainance 
tasks!!!


 - Jonas

-- 
 * Jonas Smedegaard - idealist & Internet-arkitekt
 * Tlf.: +45 40843136  Website: http://dr.jones.dk/

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