Development Roadmap

2011 Jan 20 01:22 UTC

The following road map outlines the milestones, and that features in each
milestone, that OnlineGroups.Net wants to hit in the next few releases of
GroupServer. Some features may be available on OnlineGroups.Net well
before  GroupServer, as the two projects have separate priorities. Having
said that, the 1.0 release should have almost all the core features
present in OnlineGroups.Net, including the following.

  • Relational database port for all the file metadata, messages, and
    email address.
  • New search interface.
  • New messages interface.
  • New administration interfaces for the site and group.
  • New content presentation layer, for static and dynamic content.
  • New core style-sheet, images, and JavaScript libraries.
  • New timezone-correction code.
  • Profile enhancements, including “request contact”.
  • Support groups that.
  • Announcement groups.

The features in the releases after GroupServer 1.0 are tentative only. We
have shown the features that OnlineGroups.Net would find useful, in the
order that we would like to deploy them. However, the priorities will
change as funding and external development resources become available.

We hope to have GroupServer 1.0α out by the middle of October, with 1.0
out by 21 November, 2007. We have no timetable for the other releases,
as the road map becomes less well defined after 1.0. However, we expect
the releases will become easier to make, and to integrate with existing
systems — as we are aiming to move more and more code out of the ZODB and
into Zope products.

If you have any questions about a particular feature, ask away — in a
separate topic ☺ If you have any questions about the road map, please ask
below.

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GroupServer Series 1: Frozen Treats │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘

GroupServer 1.0α  (Cream Freeze at the Beach)

  All the worst problems with GroupServer solved, and all the vital
  features in place. All the presentation-related code moved out of the
  ZODB, and into the file-system, so future updates are easier.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • GroupServer Trac database opened.
  • Profile
    • All user-properties in a relational database.
    • Registration rebuild, so a user can register and join a group
      quickly, easily, and know what he or she is getting in for!
    • User profile generated from Zope Five browser view.
  • Groups
    • Group properties in a relational database.
    • Creation of group-classes, so the templates contain no logic.
    • Cleaned up membership request and approval.
    • Indexing and searching files.
    • Removal of the files area.
  • Static content
    • Zope-3 skinning, to make the template interface more flexible.

GroupServer 1.0   (Gelato while Viewing the Sights)

  ** Feature Freeze ** Create a useful release of GroupServer.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • Clean up of the existing code.
  • Make the package easier to handle.
  • Write installation documentation.

GroupServer 1.1   (Sorbet Shared with Love)

  Small and easy features that did not make it into 1.0, or were cut to
  allow 1.0 to get out on time.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • Profile
    • Default timezone set when registering.
    • User-configurable time zones.
    • User-image resizing on the server.
    • Improved email-address setting, with verification.
  • Groups
    • Clean up privacy levels, so the common options are easy to set, and
      the privacy of users is maintained.
    • Group sociogram.
    • Add multiple files from the Web.
    • Search Chat.
    • Improved “posting blocked” messages.
    • High-load, “remember me”, and monthly status notifications.
  • Static Content
    • Content editor, so non-ZMI users can edit pages.
  • Help
    • Pop-up help.
    • Tutorial written.
    • Administration manual written.

GroupServer 1.2   (Affogato to Start the Day)

  Add hard (and large) features that did not make it into version 1.0,
  and items of infrastructure that other features may depend on.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • Profile
    • Audit Trails 1: infrastructure for recording audit information in
      place.
  • Administration
    • Audit Trails 2: User admin can alter another user's profile.
    • Improve member management so it handles large groups.
  • Static content
    • Multi-lingual UI.
  • Rebuilding post-processing, processing posts is faster and uses less
    memory.

GroupServer 1.3   (Granita di Caffè con Panna Shared with Friends)

  Blue sky features that we like, which do not require major changes to
  the GroupServer architecture.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • Profile
    • Portable profile information.
  • Administration
    • Preview of all messages sent to users.
    • Traffic statistics available.
  • Group
    • Blog-group.
    • Rendering posts that use HTML.
    • Add “push” to chat.

GroupServer 1.x   (Pineapple Snow at a Child's Party)

  • All known security bugs squashed.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ GroupServer Series 2: Awesome Apéritifs │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

GroupServer 2.0α  (Sherry Sipped Silently)

  Convert all the GroupServer 1.x features so they work with Plone,
  including static content, groups, messages, searching, and
  administration. Both projects will need to be fully ported to Zope 3
  by this stage.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • Integration with Plone.

GroupServer 2.0   (Port, Procured Privately, Pleasantly Proffered)

  ** Feature Freeze ** Create a useful release of GroupServer.

  • All known security bugs squashed.
  • Clean up of the existing code.
  • Make the package easier to handle.
  • Write installation documentation.

GroupServer 2.x   (Ouzo Utilised as an Unguent)

  • All known security bugs squashed.