[IAEP] activities.sugarlabs.org

[David Farning]

On Mon, 2008-06-23 at 11:06 -0400, Greg Dekoenigsberg wrote:
> >
> > All of this happens through a nice set of web interfaces.
> 
> There's also localization flow.  How well it works, I'm unsure.

The dynamic strings are localized via the web interface and the static
strings are localized via mozilla's mo->po translation mechanism.

> I got a bit farther in my efforts, but unfortunately, my work bitrotted 
> over the last 18 months since I first made the effort, and the AMO 
> codebase has changed quite a bit.

I have used amo on my local server to install activities on my niece's
XO and the sugar install on my laptop. 

> There's also a large question that needs to be answered: will the 
> necessary changes be carried upstream, or will they constitute a fork?

I have started submitting a series of patches upstream to a.m.o to help
modularized how amo handles applications and addontypes.  Every thing
from addons up can be used directly from the upstream a.m.o.  The three
area that will require work are:
1.  Look and feel - this is basically applying the sugarlabs style
sheets.
2. Applications - When amo made the upgrade to remona the intended
Applications to be handled dynamically.  Since then application data has
been hard coded as constants across the code base.
3.  Addontypes - amo can handle several addontypes such as extension,
plugins, and and dictionaries.  As with applications they were intended
to be handled dynamically.  Currently, they are handled using a
combination of static code and dynamic db lookups.

One of my main goals in not to fork amo.  There is really no way we
could keep the code fresh with our current man power.  Instead I am
hoping to push some patches that modularize how amo handles applications
and addontypes upstream.  Then we can just plop in our own application
and addontype code. 

> Are you working with anyone at AMO on this problem?  I'm guessing you know 
> some people, but if you don't, I can comb through my notes and maybe put 
> you in touch with some other people.

I have been slowly introducing myself via irc and bugzilla.  Hopefully,
they will find the patches useful which will help build sugar lab's
reputation as contributors.  The amo staff is pretty busy right now
cleaning up after the 3.0 release:)

> Well done on tackling this problem, David, and good luck.  Maybe I'll jump 
> in and help at some point... or maybe I'll just cheer wildly from the 
> sidelines.  :)

I would love the help. I'll be putting the code on
https://www.develer.com/gitweb/pub?p=users/dfarning/w.s.o.git;a=summary
as soon as I figure out how to push the necessary branches.  amo is
stored in svn so there is a git-svn level which I have not used before.

thanks
Dfarning