Solitox Community Framework

20070102

Real-time Chat Server v0.7 released

Filed under: ChatServer — mdh @ 18:58

The first official release of the Real-time Chat Server (version 0.7) is now released.

It can be downloaded via the sourceforge.net release system via this link: solitox real-time chat server version 0.7 (source).

Business Broker

20070103

DMD mailer DomainKeys implementation

Filed under: Framework, Applications — mdh @ 10:53

I’m currently working on the DMD-mailer, a process spawned by the DMD process to send out emails based on requests from other applications (such as the web services or the chat services). I’ve decided to implement the Yahoo DomainKeys system to enable users to have all emails signed via their private key.

More information on DomainKeys can be found here:

http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys

http://domainkeys.sourceforge.net/

I’m hoping to have the DMD-mailer app working today, which will bring me one step closer to having the DMD in working order. Once the DMD is working, I’ll be spending some time on libraries/framework stuff. The DMD is a crucial piece of the infrastructure, dealing with general events, cleanup of the database, and requests that extend beyond the functionality of the service through which they were requested (for example, the web scripts themselves should not have to send email - they simply create a database entry with the parameters for the email to be sent, and DMD will fork off a DMD-mailer process to attempt to send the email and then delete the database entry upon success.) This design allows for the use of, for example, a web server which cannot send emails out, as well as providing greater scalability and making the system more distributed-friendly in disparate environments where hosting of different services takes place on many systems - as long as a component can reach a database with the framework schema, it’ll be able to function.

Business Broker

20070104

Neat article on programming, and learning programming…

Filed under: Off-Topic — mdh @ 17:44

Well, it’s been just a bit over 11 years now since I really started hacking away in C code, and I’m still learning a lot every time I sit down to implement something I’ve never implemented before. I found this link quite amusing, and so, so right-on.

http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html

Enjoy!

Permanent Sticky

Solitox Component Overview

Filed under: Framework, Applications — mdh @ 18:51

The Solitox Community Framework contains a number of components within the basic system that adhere to the common standards of the framework. The component referred to as the ‘Framework’ is actually a set of libraries that can be used to implement compliant systems that can easily interact with other applications and components of an overall system. The components hosted here and developed and distributed as part of a basic system are as follows:

The Framework - A set of libraries and documents such as the database schema that are common to most other components. The framework code and specification documents enable the creation of other components and applications which can interact with basic system components and applications and eachother.

Data Maintenance Daemon - The Data Maintenance Daemon or DMD performs tasks requested by components which fall outside of their specific purview. It runs as a persistent process, and can spawn external processes to perform specific tasks (such as the DMD-Mailer app which sends out an email based on a database entry). The DMD is also responsible for general maintenance functions on the database and the data within it, such as performing cleanups of expired data. The DMD will also take responsibility for
database synchronization operations such as synchronizing user accounts with third-party programs such as Wordpress or Mediawiki.

Real-time Chat Server -The real-time chat server enables client connections to a scalable and efficient real-time messaging service based on the Internet Relay Chat protocol. This allows users to communicate in real-time, both privately and in groups called channels. One or more persons specified as operators of a given channel can control access to the channel, allowing group maintainers to have control over their individual channels without needing any sort of authority or access to the overall systems or any other component beyond a standard user account.

Real-time Chat Login Service - This service communicated with users of the real-time chat service via their real-time chat clients and enables them to authenticate to their user account. This enables “buddy list” like behavior to be present in the chat clients, as well as allowing them to access certain services via the real-time chat interface in addition to other interface components which may be made available. Because this service is accessed via the chat client and the chat service protocol supports encryption, communications with this login service can also be fully encrypted over-the-wire.

SimpleAdmin - This component aims to provide a very simple web-based administrative interface to a Solitox Framework system. It is designed with accessibility in mind, and should be accessible even with very spartan browsers such as lynx and via web servers which only support CGI programs with no need for additional language interpreters and such to be installed. The SimpleAdmin component also includes some command line tools to perform the most basic administrative operations should there be very limited access to even web browsers.

WebComponents - Also in the planning phase are a variety of web based applications allowing users and groups to interact via complex web systems. This will include bringing full account management and notes options to the users via the web interface first, along with group integration and collaboration tools in the near-term.

Moving forward, several ideas also exist on the horizon including a High-Availability management service which allows for all framework services to be made highly available via a variety of potential methods. Other ideas within the realm of communications include an “instant messaging” type client which takes advantage of the Real-time Chat Service to send and receive messages as well as as a directory, and video conferencing and telephony within a single common client enabling an even greater level of communication and collaboration for individuals and groups using the services provided by this framework and the framework components.

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