[turba] horde db shortcomings

[Eric S. Johansson]

> Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 11:01:18 +0200
> From: Zemon <zemon at ananzi.co.za>
> Subject: Re: [turba] how wrong is this?
> To: turba at lists.horde.org
> Message-ID: <20031021090118.GA23568 at ananzi.co.za>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> You seem to need an introduction to is the postgresql ORDMS
> (http://www.postgresql.org/) and then you might have a better chance
> with applications that depend on SQL e.g. Horde
> 
> Reading is really a required skill especially you don't have an idea of
> what is what (Horde, Postgresql, *nix ethos).  This should have been your first
> step! i.e RTFM - especially when your *nix skill level is basic.


If you read what I wrote, you would see that I had a read all the 
documentation pertaining to the horde suite.  I have been reluctantly 
using Horde for about two years.  It has always impressed me that how a 
project with such promise can be crippled by such poor documentation.

When I put together open source projects, I try to make an assumption 
that the user needs to know nothing more than what is necessary to get 
the system working, usually by detailed instructions or a guaranteed not 
to fail script.

so, if I included a database in one of my projects, I would give 
instance implementers complete instructions on how to set up the 
database completely because it is a bad assumption to assume that the 
user of your project gives a care about databases.  They're just a tool 
to let them get their work done and if they get in the way or are 
difficult to manage, then they are broken and should be discarded as a tool.

when you look at the actual instructions for setting up turba, they are 
for the most part sufficient if you're into fiddling.  It is not what I 
would consider adequate for a production environment.  the database 
scripts however are fundamentally flawed.  The instructions were just 
wrong.  There is no explanation is no description of what the final 
result should be in terms of tables, entries, permissions, or ownership. 
  You have no precondition or post condition documentation.  you have no 
metric to tell the implementer how to know when they are done.

yes, I was a bit grumpy from frustration and the lack of polish with 
which the package was put together.  Sure I might be able to get things 
to work if I spend a few weeks becoming an expert in postgresql but why 
should I have to?  is this some kind of IT jobs program?  I have avoided 
working with databases for the past twenty plus years because they seem 
to do nothing but screwup, overly complicate or delay projects.  This 
experience has done nothing to change my mind.

so, either you can leave this product inadequate and unfinished or you 
can work with me to figure out what is wrong and generate a new set of 
documentation or scripts so that the next poor sod won't get so badly 
hammered.

---eric

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