Partially opening VJC source code

[eXhale]

I was waiting on a proper open-source release with CVS at SourceForge (www.sourceforge.net) before opening the code of VJCentral but given my lack of time lately, I think it would make more sense to already open the code to people who are interested in improving the code.

I really want to make this a community project, rather than being the one who take all the decisions when it comes to adding new features to VJCentral. I also know my lack of time (due to the 545 other projects I'm working on) is bad for the developement of the community.

There would be no CVS or other versioning system at first (I'll however keep backups of the files on my computer) so access would be granted directly to the server. I would simply give you a FTP account, with administrator status, so that you can modify the VJCentral pages.

For security issues, I will only give FTP accounts to trusted person (IE active VJC/VJF members are prefered). Also, 3-5 developers would be a maximum until we have a versioning system. Good experience in PHP and MySQL is required, if all you have done in PHP is a small formmail script for a site, you'll probably get lost in the VJC code. However PHP is easy to learn, especially if you have prior programming knowledge. It took me only one week personaly, although like any language, I keep on discovering new tricks all the time.

I have to warn that the overall structure of the code is quite a mess at the moment. The basis of the code was written over one year ago and I didn't have as much PHP experience back then. This is actually why I didn't want to open the code ;) However I guess that the complete open-sourcing could be planned together. My initial plan was to transform the code into a generic content-management system (CMS) but this could be changed. If there is enough interest, I'll open a forum for VJC developers here so we can discuss about it.

I know quite a few people contacted me in the past to offer help for the PHP code, however I didn't keep track of this so, if you are (still) interested, and serious about it, please reply to this message.

PS: Those who offered their web design skills will probably have to wait on the CVS/SourceForge release. PHP development is more important at the moment and also there is no templating system of any kind so it would be difficult to make changes in the design.

[AudioVisualizers]

hey I'm into it :) although the truth is that I don't know php from those holes in my head. Perhaps it would be best for me to start studying basic php b4 looking at your wonderful spagetti....I have been relying on a few trusted friends to work on our community php code - which will be released to a small circle of friends in the near future, once our media gallery upgrade is out of testing (in chat window with the primary developer as we "speak"....

VJC runs on a dedicated (aside from the other sites it hosts) rackshack box. comm.av.com runs on a similar dedicated box... and our new vj loop ftp runs on another similar completely dedicated box. - I am slowly building a nice rack that I will colocate to become the community terabyte server in the near future once the code is done - but it is still a bit of a ways off. Perhaps I can convince my other php friends to tie in some help, and jilt to throw a further hand to his past speedy unreleased help, and we can cobble this together that way....

or perhaps it is best for us just to work on our own tangents for the moment - project management on our community stuff is a handful in itself - we could always tie in the two systems in the future once they are more flushed out, and that could run on the colocated ultra box or something - with a dedicated 10 Mbps multihomed feed.

anyway, getting beyond myself for now - just want to stay in the loop ;)

-=D.

[eXhale]

sounds good dave, i'm sure that the simple fact of open-sourcing the code will help the two sites to be more tied and complementary anyway, since it will be easier to make changes. more flexibility and transparence. i can give you (and/or your developers) a FTP account later once you have a bit more time :)

speaking of this, i don't know if you saw the other thread but my server has reached its memory limit, luckily my host will soon install 512mb of RAM to help.

[eXhale]

in addition to what i wrote on the first post: a very good example is http://www.livejournal.com, the site is not only 100% open-source but everyone can also comment and suggest new improvements, they can also help develop the documentation of the site (something badly needed on VJC), make the art/graphics, respond to questions, etc. everyone can get involved as much as they want.

i know this is quite different from VJC at the moment and i don't know if we'll ever achieve something as successful as livejournal (not that there is any competition in the first place), or if both can be compared due to their different nature, but it seems like a good direction to take, doesn't it?

[spark]

again, another non-coder but facing the same issues: having got avit off the ground, and proven that the VJC community can come together to amazing effect, there's now a huge task of making it sustainable - so we're working ditching the static site for a community-mainained one with private admin functions for those running events...

so just as people have come forward to edit/mentor the site, or organise VJC-led events, it would be great to have a coder crew in the VJC community that can work on these projects, integrating and developing them into the services that will serve the vj community for years to come.

[Rovastar]

I don't mind chipping in with a bit of work on this. MAybe in acouple of weeks I will look at this in more detail. Pretty good with database stuff too although not done stuff professionally in this feild for a few years now.

So add me to the list x.