[dev] Re: Horde 3 docs and framework capabilities

[Kevin Myer]

Quoting Greg Rundlett <Greg.Rundlett at savaJe.com>:

> Please don't take my comments the wrong way.  This post is meant to 
> be constructive. I have been frustrated recently by *many* open 
> source projects that are 'successful' in that they have a decent 
> community and adoption, but that still don't have good documentation.

I'm in the same situation as Greg.  I'm a non-programmer (at least in 
the sense
that programming is not my primary job responsibility) using Horde and
hopefully contributing something back somewhere along the line.  I'm trying to
understand what fits where, in terms of what module does something belong to,
and what module provides XYZ service, and in terms of what class would a
particular set of new functions be added to.  Its difficult to read the 
details
(the APIs) to get a sense of the big picture.

As an example:
I asked on the main horde list about the resetpassword capability, that
currently only the customsql driver supports.  I'm looking to add that 
for LDAP
because we have that need here and it looks to be rather trivial to 
implement. So I start looking to find where that functionality exists, 
and its coming out
of /services/resetpassword.php which uses the Auth classes.  And then I see
similar, if not identical functionality coming from the passwd module, which
appears to be a standalone module under the umbrella of the sork module.  I'd
view resetpassword capability as a special case of password changing in
general.  So then I question well, does resetpassword really belong in Auth,
when password changing in general is in sork (or passwd), and then I ask, well
if password changing is really a basic function of using a web application
suite, then maybe the functions and classes in the passwd module really belong
in the Auth class, so you'd end up with something like Auth::Passwd::LDAP, or
Auth::Passwd::Horde, with all the routines being generalized through
Auth::Passwd and the specifics for each authentication means implemented in
additional classes.

But I have no idea if that fits anywhere into anyone's thinking.  So if 
I write
something, where should I write it for?  And how does that fit into the big
picture of Horde.

Its a fabulous framework.  Easy to understand the functions.  Easy to 
integrate
into a myraid of complex and unique environments.  I just want to make sure
that I anything I work is developed around the right framework, is done 
in such
a manner that its useful to others and can be reused by others easily.

Kevin

-- 
Kevin M. Myer
Senior Systems Administrator
Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13  http://www.iu13.org
(717) 560-6140