[schooltool-dev] Fwd: Configuration issues for schools

[Tim Holy]

On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 7:41 AM, Tom Hoffman <tom.hoffman at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 3:16 AM, Tim Holy <tim.holy at gmail.com> wrote:
> > An off-list reply, posted here for general information. Joshua and I are
> > exploring the merits of this approach in comparison to other suggestions
> and
> > its possible generalization to multiple projects.
> >
> > Currently I'm favoring an approach similar to that suggested by David
> Groos,
> > where we might support two implementations, a "less secure/easier to
> > install" and "more secure" version. Perhaps the clients (the individual
> > apps) could use a library that would provide an API independent of the
> > server architecture.
>
> If you're running a server anyhow, I don't understand why you wouldn't
> want a database-backed web application.


Oh, I agree that there are some significant advantages in using a
standardized (as opposed to "roll your own") solution. I'm so unfamiliar
with modern web/database stuff that it's taking me time to understand the
various implications, but I am now leaning against coming up with our own
network standard for this, especially since it turns out Joshua's solution
depends heavily on Gambas (a large set of dependencies) and would have to be
written from scratch anyway.

So my current thoughts are:
1. The "simple" case (e.g., for an individual classroom for a teacher whose
administration doesn't want to bite the bullet): try to come up with a
sensible, easy-to-configure (no more than a spreadsheet and half an hour)
system that involves a directory tree stored on the local harddrive. The
only reason to even talk about this publicly is the hope that other projects
(like GCompris, KDEEdu) might be able to use the same setup, so the teacher
doesn't have to repeat the work many times.

2. The "sophisticated" case (e.g., for a school-wide installation supported
by the administration): all the web-based doohickeys anyone could want :-).

Obviously, these need to have some meat on the bones. I can start preparing
a document on specifics, particularly #1, but I will need your help on #2.

--Tim
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